The Seed of the Sacred Fig was directed by the Iranian independent filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who also wrote the screenplay.
In this bold and courageous story, Iman, a devout and honest lawyer, lives with his wife Najmeh and two daughters, Rezvan and Sana in Tehran. He’s recently been appointed as an investigating judge at the city’s Revolutionary Court but, as nationwide protests against the regime intensify, he quickly finds himself compromised and out of his depth.
The filming process was “difficult” and took place in secret over about 70 days between December 2023 and March 2024, the footage being smuggled out of Iran to Hamburg.
Rasoulof himself has been arrested several times, imprisoned and his passport confiscated as many of his films have brought him into conflict with the Iranian Government. In May 2024, following the announcement that The Seed of the Sacred Fig had been selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival that year, Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison, a flogging, a fine and confiscation of his property. He and three of the main actresses managed to flee the country and now live in Germany. At Cannes, the film won the Prix Spécial and four other awards.
The title refers to a species of parasitic fig that, after its seed has been deposited by a bird on another tree, will grow down, root itself and eventually wrap around and kill the host. An apt metaphor for a repressive theocratic regime.
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