Modern and traditional values clash in acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s daring family drama, which won the Prix Spécial and the FIPRESCI Award at Cannes.

In Tehran, the exemplary family of an investigating judge are tested by the dramatic events following a young woman’s death in police custody. Civil servant Iman has just been appointed to the Revolutionary Court, where he’s expected to extract confessions, serve death penalties to dissidents, and withhold information from loved ones. As demonstrations against compulsory hijab-wearing rock the city, Iman loses his gun and suspects his wife Najmeh and their two daughters – who’ve been protecting a protester – have stolen it, later subjecting them to interrogations as though they, too, have transgressed the law. Will Najmeh stand up to her husband, and to the state?

Responding to his country’s punishing political climate, Rasoulof (There Is No Evil, MIFF 2021; A Man of Integrity, MIFF 2017) returns with a searing drama that captures the growing unrest among a generation deprived of rights. The Iranian director had shot the incendiary film in secret, and – after receiving an eight-year prison sentence earlier this year – fled the country to attend its competition premiere at Cannes. Much like its maker, The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a courageous testament of resistance against tyranny.

“A radical triumph … There are only a handful of films you’ll see in a lifetime that will capture a moment in time with a fraction of the same clarity, conviction, and compassion … A remarkable, revolutionary work of art.” – Collider

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