I exist to narrate
Mohammad Rasoulof writes about his Forced Departure from Iran

IIFMA, the iranian independent filmmakers' association

‘I still remember the day, seven years ago, when you took my passport for the umpteenth time. Two years ago, you raided my home, taking everything of value. Last year, my lawyer and I appealed to various institutions, but to no avail. You did not know that my identity is not in my passport...’

Mohammad Rasoulof, a renowned independent filmmaker, has consistently challenged censorship through his work. His latest film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig focuses on the woman, life, freedom movement, notably made without the mandatory hijab for actors.



He, who has lost the opportunity to attend world festivals for many years due to the ban on exit, after announcing the appearance of the film The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, faced severe punishments such as flogging, confiscation of property and eight years in prison.

By publishing a post on his personal Instagram page, he announced his forced departure from Iran. His writing, which you can read below, is a testament to the many Iranian intellectuals and artists who were driven out of their homeland but rebuilt their lives beyond the borders occupied by the Islamic Republic Until the day they take it back.

‘I still remember the day, seven years ago, when you took my passport for the umpteenth time. Two years ago, you raided my home, taking everything of value. Last year, my lawyer and I appealed to various institutions, but to no avail.

You did not know that my identity is not in my passport. If you think that the borders of Iran are in your hands, you are wrong. If the geographical Iran suffers under the force of your religious tyranny, the cultural Iran is alive in the common minds of millions of Iranians who were forced to leave Iran due to your brutality and cruelty, and no power can impose its will on it.

As of today, I am a resident of cultural Iran, a borderless land that millions of Iranians with ancient history and culture in every corner of the world have built and are impatiently waiting to bury you and your system of oppression in the depths of history. Then, like a phoenix from that soil, a new life will begin.’


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Mohammad Rasoulof Sentenced To
Eight Years In Prison, Flogging & Confiscation Of Property, Says Lawyer

By Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline
May 8, 2024

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison as well as flogging, a fine and confiscation of his property, his lawyer Babak Paknia announced in a post on X on Wednesday.

“The main reason for issuing this sentence is for signing statements and making films and documentaries. In the court’s opinion, these actions were examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country’s security,” wrote Paknia.

News of Rasoulof’s sentencing follows in the wake of reports that the director had come under pressure from the Iranian authorities to withdraw his upcoming film The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree from the Cannes Film Festival where it is due to world premiere in Competition.



Rasoulof has been in the crosshairs of Iran’s hardline Islamic Republic government throughout his career for challenging its authoritarian rule.

In his latest brush with Iran’s hardline regime, he was arrested in July 2022 for signing a petition titled “Lay Down Your Arms” calling on security forces to exercise restraint in relation to popular protests.

He was released on a temporary basis in February 2023 from Tehran’s Evin jail due to ill health and has been under house arrest ever since.

Last year, he was invited to serve on Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury but was unable to accept the invitation after being barred from leaving Iran.

He was not expected to attend the festival this either but the screening of his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree is due to go ahead as scheduled in spite of pressure from the Iranian authorities.

The director has a long relationship with Cannes.

His films Manuscripts Don’t Burn (2013) and A Man Of Integrity (2017) world premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2013 and 2017, winning the Fipresci prize and best film prize respectively.

A Man Of Integrity was the last film with which Rasoulof travelled the festival circuit. After its premiere in Cannes, he presented it at Telluride in September 2017 and then had his passport confiscated on his return.

He defied a filmmaking ban and went on to make his searing drama There Is No Evil, capturing Iranian society under the Islamic Republic regime, which won the Berlinale Golden Bear in 2020.