"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" One of the main winners of the 2025 German Film Awards
By Morad Rahmati, Deutsche Welle (DW) May 10, 2024
"The Seed of the Sacred Fig", directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, has been awarded the Silver Lola, the German equivalent of an Oscar for second best movie, at the German Film Awards held in Berlin Friday night.
The Golden Lola was awarded to Swiss director Tim Fehlbaum's real-life thriller "September 5" based on the terrorist attacks on the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Best actor award went toMissagh Zarefor his portrayal of an Iranian patriarch inMohammad Rasoulof’s Oscar-nominated film.
"The Seed of the Sacred Fig", which depicts an Iranian family torn apart by conflicting loyalties to an increasingly oppressive Tehran regime, was set up as a German-French co-production and shot in secret in Iran.
The film "The Seed of the Sacred Fig", directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, has been awarded the Silver Lola at the German Film Awards held in Berlin Friday night. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa/picture alliance
"The Seed of the Sacred Fig", a Cannes winner and Oscar nominee, was nominated in six categories for the annual German Film Awards 2025: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress (Niousha Akhshi), Best Director, Best Editing (Andrew Bird) and Best Screenplay (Mohammad Rasoulof). The impressively staged political drama is an international co-production between Germany, France and Iran.
In his speech, Mohammad Rasoulof, who went on stage with the film's crew to accept the Silver Lola, dedicated the award to Iranian women, and especially to Soheila Golestani, one of the film's actors.
“Making this film was a miracle, but the miracle was the Iranian women, who made this film possible,” said Rasoulof, accepting his award. The director, who fled Iran last year, now lives in Berlin. He ended his speech with a call to “stand by us, stand by the people of Iran.”
His film tells a family story from the centre of the political resistance in Tehran in 2022. As the theocracy begins to falter on his doorstep in the midst of the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests,, tensions within the family of his main character Iman become more and more palpable until the situation escalates. The film was also screened at the IFFMH last year and delighted the audience.
"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" takes a sharp look at state violence and its impact on families. The film, which was secretly made inside Iran, tells the story of "Iman", a judge who initially refuses to sign death sentences without reason, but under pressure from the regime, his life path changes and his family falls apart.
"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" has already won prestigious awards, including at the Cannes Film Festival, and has been praised by critics.
A complete list of the winners of the 2025 German Film Awards follows.
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