Mohammad Rasoulof

Mohammad Rasoulof (born 16 November 1972) is an Iranian independent filmmaker who lives in exile in Europe. He is known for several award-winning films, including The Twilight (2002), Iron Island (2005), Goodbye (2011), Manuscripts Don't Burn (2013), A Man of Integrity (2017) and There Is No Evil (2020). For the latter, he won the Golden Bear at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival.

He has been arrested several times and had his passport confiscated, as the nature and content of his films has brought him into conflict with the Iranian Government. In May 2024, following the announcement that his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig was selected in the main competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced by the Islamic Republic to 8 years in prison, whipping, and a fine. Rasoulof fled to a safe house in Germany after the sentencing.

Early life and education
Mohammad Rasoulof was born on 16 November 1972 in Shiraz, Iran. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology from Shiraz University, and he has studied film editing at Soore University, Tehran.

Career
His first feature-length film, The Twilight (Gagooman), was released in 2002 and was awarded the Crystal Simorgh for Best First Film at the Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran. His second feature, Iron Island (Jazire-ye ahani), was released in 2005. His feature The White Meadows (Keshtzarha-ye sepid) was released in 2009.

Goodbye (Be omid-e didar) premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section and won the prize for directing. His film Manuscripts Don't Burn also premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. A Man of Integrity won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

In June 2017, Rasoulof was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

There Is No Evil was awarded the Golden Bear in the main competition section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in 2020, and the Sydney Film Prize at the 68th Sydney Film Festival in 2021.

Legal problems and exile
In 2010, Rasoulof was arrested on set and accused of filming without a permit. He was sentenced to six years in prison, later reduced to one year.

In September 2017 his passport was confiscated upon his return to Iran, meaning he became mamnu'-ol-xoruğ, i.e. banned from leaving the country. Furthermore, he was ordered to attend a court hearing.

On 23 July 2019, Rasoulof was convicted by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Iran to one-year imprisonment and a two-year ban on leaving the country and on participation in social and political activity because of his film A Man of Integrity. He is accused of "gathering and collusion against national security and of propaganda against the system". In August 2019 Rasoulof appealed the verdict. On his way to the court, in an act of professional solidarity, he and his lawyer were accompanied by some of the most renowned Iranian filmmakers, including Kianoush Ayyari, Majid Barzegar, Reza Dormishian, Asghar Farhadi, Bahman Farmanara, Rakhshān Banietemad, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Jafar Panahi, and Hasan Pourshirazi.

On 4 March 2020, Rasoulof was sentenced to one year in prison for three of his movies, which were considered "propaganda against the system". The verdict also included a ban on making films for two years. He has stated that he intends to appeal the decision and will not turn himself in, considering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which had already led Iran to release 54,000 prisoners temporarily in order to prevent the virus from spreading.

Rasoulof was originally scheduled to take part in the 2023 Cannes Film Festival as a jury member of the Un Certain Regard section. However, he was arrested in July 2022 after criticising the government's crackdown on protestors in the southwestern city of Abadan over a deadly building collapse. He was temporarily released from prison in February 2023 due to his health. Rasoulof was later pardoned and sentenced to a year in prison and a two-year ban on leaving Iran for "propaganda against the regime."

Following the announcement that his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig was selected in the main competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the cast and crew were interrogated by Iranian authorities, banned from leaving the country, and pressured to convince Rasoulof to withdraw the film from the festival line-up. On 8 May 2024, Rasoulof's lawyer announced that the director has been sentenced to eight years in prison as well as flogging, a fine and confiscation of his property.

Shortly after, Rasoulof, and some crew members, managed to flee from Iran. While appealing his sentence, Rasoulof planned his "exhausting, long, complicated, and anguishing journey" out of Iran, which took a total of 28 days. He traveled on foot for several hours with a guide to a village at the border on the Iranian side, where he waited for the appropriate time to cross. He was transferred to a safe house in a village on the non-Iranian side, where he waited for an extended period of time. He was then moved to a town with a German consulate. His passport had been seized by Iranian authorities, so he had no documents to identify himself. However, Rasoulof previously lived in Germany so he contacted the German authorities, who were able to identify him using his fingerprints and issued him a temporary travel document which he used to travel to Germany. On 24 May 2024, he attended the red carpet in Cannes, where later he received a Special Award for his film.

Awards and nominations
