Mohammad Rasoulof joined us to discuss the logistics of making 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' in exile from his native Iran.
premiered at this year’s Cannes with a harrowing backstory. DirectorA Man of Integritybarely made it to the festival. Facing a prison sentence for his work for its staunch criticism of the Iranian government, the filmmaker was forced to escape his native country.
SCHINDEL: I understand that when you were in jail was when you had the idea for this film, when you learned about the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. RASOULOF: Initially, what really drew me to Iman was a desire to understand the depth of his psychological dimension and to really make sense of him. But then, as I moved forward, I realized that you could actually project the story of this family on a historical dimension of the history of Iran. And in fact, that’s what happened throughout the film, and that’s where it ends.
And the casting, again, is very complex, and it happens in a different way. This time, it was better than in the past because through the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, society was able to express openly its requests from the state and from the government. And the societal change, of course, also had an effect on the world of cinema, whereby a lot of film professionals decided no longer to work on projects that complied with censorship.
SCHINDEL: When it comes to locations, obviously you’re a bit limited, but there are some very striking ones. A lot of the film takes place in the apartment, so that was crucial. But there’s also the outdoor restaurant scene, which is something that would be easy for any normal film. But there was just one exterior shot in the film that was really difficult. And in fact, I think it only took us five minutes to shoot it, because we’d done a lot of prep. We’d rehearsed it pretty well. That’s when Iman is driving and he stops at a red light and looks out the window and sees this car driven by a young woman without a headscarf who looks like his daughter. We’d practice all the, where the cars should exactly be and so on.
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