Iranian Director Mohammad Rasoulof secretly fled his home country ahead of being prosecuted and sentenced to flogging and jail for daring to make his films.
Rasouloff quietly packed up and escaped the oppressive Iranian regime and is now in an undisclosed location in Europe.
- The There Is No Evil director finally revealed in a public statement he left Iran, according to The Wrap.
“I arrived in Europe a few days ago after a long and complicated journey. About a month ago, my lawyers informed me that my eight-year prison sentence was confirmed in the court of appeal and would be implemented on short notice,” he wrote.
“Knowing that the news of my new film would be revealed very soon, I knew that without a doubt, a new sentence would be added to these eight years. I didn’t have much time to make a decision. I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile. The Islamic Republic confiscated my passport in September 2017. Therefore, I had to leave Iran secretly,” he admitted.
The Iranian regime claimed that the director violated “the country’s security” by helming the films and accused him of “collusion” with foreign enemies.
The director was arrested in 2022 after he criticized the Iranian government for its flawed response to a building collapse which left 33 people dead in the city of Abadan.
Rasoulof was not the only member of the production of his latest film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, to be harassed by Iranian authorities. Several actors and film crew members have also been detained by the Iranian authorities.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig is set to debut during the May 14-25 Cannes Film Festival this year.
The film follows the growing tension in the family of an Iranian investigative judge who become suspicious and paranoid when his gun disappears in his house and he blames has wife and children for the theft. He begins systematically imposing draconian rules on his loved ones, an act that is in parallel with the breakdown of Iranian society at large.
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