Five years in prison, flogging, a fine and confiscation of property. This is the sentence imposed by an Iranian court on director Mohammad Rasoulof. His lawyer, Babak Paknia, made this known on social media, also because the sentence was not officially announced by the local media. The accusation against him is that of “collusion against national security”.
One of the most influential exponents of Iranian cinema
Rasoulof has triumphed several times at various international festivals in the sector and will bring his latest film into competition at Cannes. Fifty-two years old, the Iranian director also won the Golden Bear in Berlin with the 2020 film “Evil Does Not Exist”, focusing on the death penalty in his country. And his latest artistic work, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”, was included in the official selection of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival which will host its world premiere. Rasoulof, born in 1973 in Shiraz, is considered one of the most influential exponents of Iranian cinema today. He studied film directing at Tehran University and began his career as a director in the 1990s. His work has often been at the center of controversy and has faced harsh censorship and condemnation from Iranian authorities due to the critical nature of his films. In addition to his film career, Rasoulof has also been active in the field of human rights and has faced several legal challenges in Iran due to his political views. In the past, for example, he had been sentenced to a year in prison and a ban from making films for the next two years, following a sentence that deemed three of his works to be “propaganda against the system”.
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