Get the latest gossip
Making a Movie in Secret, and Living With the Repercussions
Mohammad Rasoulof on the logistical challenges of making The Seed of the Sacred Fig, the Academy Award–shortlisted film that forced him to flee Iran.
In the movie, Iman (Missagh Zareh), an investigating judge for Iran’s Revolutionary Court who is responsible for determining the guilt or innocence of people charged with crimes against the state, begins to suspect that his wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), and his daughters, Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki), are keeping secrets from him. During the film’s secret production, director and writer Mohammad Rasoulof — who had already served time in prison for his regime-criticizing work — stayed away from the set, aware that if anyone spotted him on the street surrounded by a cast and crew, they’d know what he was up to. At the same time, it was easier than in the past, to some extent, because one of the things that the Woman, Life, Freedom movement did in Iran was it enabled many people, across all straits of society, to rip off the mask that they’d worn up to that point and state clearly who they were and what they wanted.
Or read this on VULTURE