Dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who was forced to leave Iran, says it is bittersweet that his most recent film will be competing at the Oscars under a different nation’s banner.
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” a paranoid thriller that was shot in secret and depicts a family torn apart by Iran’s brutally repressive politics, has earned rave reviews and won many festival prizes, including at Cannes.
But each country can submit just one movie for the best international film Oscar, and in authoritarian countries like Iran, that choice of film is made by state-controlled organizations.
“Of course, it is unimaginable that the Islamic Republic could have submitted a film like this for the Academy Awards,” Rasoulof told AFP.
“In fact, if it were possible for the regime to submit it, the film would not have been made in the first place.”
Rather, the movie, which opens in theatres in the United States on Wednesday, has been chosen as Germany’s Academy Awards entry.
Rasoulof has selected Germany as his home country. French and German firms produced the film.
“Sacred Fig” now has a strong chance of being nominated at the glitzy Hollywood ceremony, and gaining huge global exposure.
“I’m delighted Germany saw the international scope of the film and opened its arms… it’s like shining a torch, a sign to all filmmakers working under duress around the world,” Rasoulof said while promoting the film in Los Angeles this month.
But “it is bittersweet,” he said. “I have got pretty mixed feelings.”
