Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who clandestinely fled Iran to an undisclosed location in Europe, implored world cinema on Tuesday to provide “strong support” to threatened directors, in a statement sent to AFP.
The director, sentenced to several years in prison in his country, says he “fears for the safety and well-being” of the crew of his latest film. The seeds of the wild fig tree. remained in Iran.
His film is competing for the Palme d’Or, but he still doesn’t know if he himself will be able to make it to the Cannes Festival.
“I arrived in Europe a few days ago after a long and complicated trip,” testifies in the statement this great voice of Iranian cinema, winner of a Golden Bear in Berlin in 2020 for “The Devil Doesn’t Exist.”
The 51-year-old filmmaker, who wants to represent an Iran “away from the narrative dominated by censorship (and) closer to reality,” explains that he decided to leave when he learned that his “unjust” sentence of eight years in prison, of which five applicable years, upheld on appeal, would be executed “as expeditiously as possible.”
“I chose exile”
He feared an additional sentence after the presentation of his next film. “I had to choose between jail or leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile,” she says. Since her passport was confiscated since 2017, she had to “secretly leave Iran.”
The director is alarmed by the situation of his teams that remain in Iran, in a country where “the magnitude and intensity of the repression have reached such a level of brutality that people expect to learn about a new crime every day, atrocious acts committed. by the government.” .
“The criminal machinery of the Islamic Republic continually and systematically violates human rights,” he denounces.
To protect himself and those close to him from the regime’s reprisals, the director kept secret “the identities of the cast and crew, as well as the details of the plot and script.”
“Freedom of expression must be defended”
The actors “managed to leave Iran” in time, Mohammad Rasoulof is pleased, but many other members of the team are still there “and the intelligence services are putting pressure on them”, in particular through “long interrogations”.
“The global film community must provide strong support to directors,” he implores. “Freedom of expression must be defended loud and clear… As I know from personal experience, this support can be invaluable as they continue their vital work.”
Source: BFM TV
