Iran: Celebrated Mohammad Rasoulof sentenced to five years in prison ahead of the 77th Cannes Film Festival
Renowned Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof will not be attending the 77th Cannes Film Festival. He will be far from walking the steps of the Palais on May 14th. While his latest film will be screened at Cannes, he has been sentenced to five years in prison by an Iranian court for « collusion against national security », announced his lawyer on Wednesday, May 8th.
The director, who has won several awards at international festivals, has also been sentenced to lashes, a fine, and the confiscation of his assets, stated Attorney Babak Paknia in messages posted on X. His lawyer indicated that the court had handed down an eight-year prison sentence, five of which are to be served, and that this judgment had been upheld on appeal at an unspecified date. The 77th Cannes Film Festival, commencing on May 14th, has selected Mohammad Rasoulof’s latest film, « La Graine de la Figue Sacrée »
On April 30th, Attorney Paknia stated that authorities had summoned members of the film crew for questioning and that they had faced pressure to withdraw the film from international competitions. Mohammad Rasoulof, aged 52, was arrested in July 2022 for inciting protests triggered by the collapse of a building that resulted in over 40 deaths in May in southwest Iran.
Following the tragedy, a group of Iranian filmmakers he led had issued an open letter calling on security forces to “lay down their weapons” in the face of national outrage against “corruption” and “incompetence” of officials. He was subsequently temporarily released for health reasons in January 2023 and barred from leaving the country.
This temporary release came as Iran was rocked by protests sparked by the death on September 16, 2022, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, following her arrest by the morality police for alleged violation of women’s dress code. Mohammad Rasoulof won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in 2017 for “A Man of Integrity”, the story of a man living a simple life trying to fight against the dishonest maneuvers of a private company pushing villagers to sell their property. He then received the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 for ” There Is No Evil “, a reflection on free will and the duty to disobey.
Barred from leaving Iranian territory, he was unable to receive his prize, having been sentenced the previous year to one year in prison for “propaganda against the system” after his film “A Man of Integrity”.
