Cannes 2024 – Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof: Between repression and resilience
While his last film The Seed of the Sacred Fig was selected in official competition from the 77th edition of the Cannes Festivalthe Iranian authorities have decided to prevent the Mohammad Rasoulof film team from participating in the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Team members were summoned for stretched interrogations, leading to their formal ban on leaving the country. This authoritarian decision was confirmed on X by the lawyer Babak Paknia, who underlined the pressures exerted on the team to convince Rasoulof to remove his film from the Cannes selection.
However, uncertainty remains as to the presence of the director himself at the festival. Mohammad Rasoulof, already subject to a ban on leaving Iran since 2017 and faced with new accusations before the Revolutionary Court, could be denied authorization to go to Cannes to defend his work.
This situation highlights the challenges faced by Iranian artists, subject to political pressures that hinder their freedom of expression and their participation in international cultural events.
Mohammad Rasoulof has a rich story with the Cannes Film Festival, where his films have been selected and rewarded several times in the Un Certain Regard section. In 2011, Bye won the staging prize, followed by the Fipresci Prize for Manuscripts do not burn in 2013, and A certain look for An honest man in 2017. However, after the latter’s success in Cannes, Rasoulof was confiscated his passport on his return to Iran in 2017, thus depriving him of the freedom to travel and work abroad.
In 2019, he was sentenced to one year in prison for “propaganda against the system” and was forbidden to make films and travel abroad. Despite these restrictions, Rasoulof persevered and succeeded in carrying out his cinematographic project, There is no evil – the devil does not existusing ingenious subterfuges to circumvent censorship.
Presented in first at the 70th edition of the Berlin Festival in February 2020, the magnificent There is no evil won three prizes: the prestigious gold bear for the best film, the prize for the film guild and the prize for the ecumenical jury. However, Rasoulof was forced to participate at the ceremony due to the travel restrictions imposed on him.
Shortly after this international recognition, Mohammad Rasoulof was again faced with the oppression of the Iranian regime. In July 2022, with other directors, he was incarcerated for expressed support to civilian demonstrators on social networks. His sentence lasted until February 2023, thus strengthening obstacles to his artistic freedom and his ability to participate in international events such as the Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes Film Festival had published a press release to request their immediate release.
In May 2023, Mohammad Rasoulof was once again confronted with obstacles, when he was invited to be a member of the jury of the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. Despite this prestigious invitation, he had still been prevented from traveling.
While his latest film is currently selected in official competition in Cannes, the question of the presence of Mohammad Rasoulof remains unanswered, due to the travel restrictions that are still in place which pose a heavy doubt on his participation in the festival. This situation highlights the challenges faced by artists under authoritarian regimes, thus emphasizing the need to defend freedom of expression and cinematographic art in difficult circumstances.
However, despite these obstacles, Mohammad Rasoulof continued to persevere in his cinematographic work, thus demonstrating his resilience and his determination in the face of adversity. Its history, just like that of other filmmakers confronted with oppressive regimes, highlights the courage and determination necessary to create and circulate artistic works in hostile environments. Despite the repression, these filmmakers manage to work, to make films and even to bring them out of Iran to present them in various film festivals, thus testifying to the vitality and resistance of art in the face of political oppression.
Neïla Driss
