SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

Shot entirely in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s captivating thriller THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG centers on a family thrust into the public eye when patriarch Iman (Missagh Zareh) is appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran. He is expected to blindly follow the dictates of the Iranian government, but as political unrest erupts in the streets, he realizes that his job is even more dangerous than expected, making him increasingly paranoid and distrustful. When Iman’s wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and two daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki) show sympathy for protesters demanding human rights, he begins to harden in defense of an unjust system. Rasoulof, himself a former political prisoner, was forced to flee his homeland after authorities learned about the subject matter of his film. THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Fipresci Award as well as a Jury Special Prize. It is Germany’s submission for the International Feature Film Oscar.