The famous Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, sentenced to five years in prison in his country, announced Monday that he had fled Iran, on the eve of the opening of the Cannes Film Festival where the director is expected and must screen his film, according to his lawyer.
“I am grateful to my friends, my acquaintances and the people who helped me, sometimes at the risk of their lives, to cross the border and get to safety,” Mr. Rasoulof said in a text on Instagram accompanied by a video showing snow-capped mountains.
“I confirm that Mohammad Rasoulof has left Iran and will participate in the Cannes Film Festival,” his lawyer Babk Paknia told AFP.
The 77e Cannes festival, which begins on May 14 in the south of France, has selected the new film by Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
“I have to quickly finish the final post-production adjustments” of the film, Mr. Rasoulof also underlines in his Instagram publication.
On Wednesday, his lawyer revealed that the 51-year-old director, several times awarded at international festivals, had been sentenced to five years in prison for “collusion against national security”.
Mohammad Rasoulof was arrested in July 2022, accused of encouraging demonstrations sparked after the collapse of a building that killed more than 40 people in May in southwest Iran.
After this tragedy, a group of Iranian filmmakers he led published an open letter calling on the security forces “to lay down their arms” in the face of national indignation against the “corruption” and “incompetence” of those responsible.
He was then released temporarily for health reasons in January 2023 and was prohibited from leaving the country.
Mohammad Rasoulof won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in 2017 for A man of integritythe story of a man with a simple life who tries to fight against the dishonest maneuvers of a private company pushing villagers to sell their goods.
He then received the Golden Bear at the Berlin festival in 2020 for The devil does not exista reflection on free will and the duty to disobey.
Mohammad Rasoulof was invited to Cannes in 2023 as a member of a jury, but he was unable to travel, still subject to a travel ban.