Dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof talks about how he escaped Iran on foot after making his new political thriller, The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Court had just sentenced him to eight years in prison over charges linked to his earlier films and activism. It was the latest, and harshest, in a series of arrests and jail time over the past 15 years. There was no possibility of appeal.during a recent visit to New York, part of travels that have taken him across the world to promote what is assuredly his most daring film.
The director says he desperately tried to continue living in Iran to create the kind of work he wanted to make,"which meant living under constant fear, pressure and with a great deal of tension." "These videos were truly shocking, at least in two ways. On the one hand, they showed you what oppressive and savage regime is ruling the country," he said."And on the other hand, they showed you this incredibly courageous young generation that knows how to express its wants."
Rasoulof says he was inspired by a chance encounter with a high-ranking prison official while in detention. The man"told me in secret that he hated himself, he was thinking of taking his life, and that his children kept questioning him very harshly about his job," Rasoulof recalled."And that's where I thought it would be very interesting to tell the story of a family that has a rift of that kind.
"The regime is paranoid about other filmmakers making underground films in a similar vein, and so they probably want to use our cast and crew and make examples out of them in order to dissuade anyone who wants to do a similar project in the future inside Iran," Rasoulof said.
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