Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose latest film was selected at the Cannes Film Festival, sentenced to five years in prison

The famous Iranian dissident filmmaker will be present at the Cannes festival which begins Tuesday May 14, with his new film “The seed of the sacred fig” in competition.

Mohammed Rasoulof, Iranian director who has won several awards at international festivals, was sentenced to five years in prison by an Iranian court for “collusion against national security”, his lawyer announced on Wednesday May 8. He was also sentenced to lashes, a fine and confiscation of his property, said Master Babak Paknia in messages posted on X (formerly Twitter).

This judgment was not announced by official Iranian media. His lawyer indicated that the court had imposed a prison sentence of eight years, including five years applicable, and that this judgment had been confirmed on appeal on an unspecified date.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival, which begins Tuesday May 14 in the south of France, has selected the new film by Mohammad Rasoulof, The seed of the sacred fig presented in competition on May 24. In Cannes, Mohammad Rasoulof was already the winner of the Un Certain Regard prize in 2017 for A man of integrity, the 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 was then invited to the Festival last year, in 2023, as a member of the jury for the same Un Certain Regard selection, but he was unable to make the trip, still affected by a travel ban.

On April 30, Master Paknia claimed that authorities had summoned members of the film’s crew for questioning and that they had been pressured to withdraw the film from international competitions. Mohammad Rasoulof, 52, was arrested in July 2022 for 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 your arms” in the face of national outrage against “Corruption” And “incompetence” those responsible. He was then released temporarily for health reasons in January 2023 and prohibited from leaving the territory. This temporary release came as Iran was shaken by protests sparked by the death on September 16, 2022 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, following her arrest by the moral police for alleged violation of the code clothing for women.

Golden Bear in Berlin

Mohammad Rasoulof also received the Golden Bear at the Berlin festival in 2020 for The devil does not exist, a reflection on free will and the duty to disobey. Banned from leaving Iranian territory, he was unable to receive his prize, having been sentenced the previous year to a year in prison for “propaganda against the system” after his film A man of integrity.

In July 2022, authorities arrested internationally renowned dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi when he arrived at a Tehran court to follow up on Mohammad Rasoulof’s case. He was released on bail in February 2023. “We are filmmakers, independent filmmakers”wrote the two filmmakers in a joint letter addressed to the Venice Festival in September 2022.