Exiled Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s definition of home is shifting

AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Shortly before he was to be flogged and imprisoned for eight years, Mohammad Rasoulof fled Iran. His weekslong journey would take him from Tehran, through rural Iranian villages, on foot across a mountainous borderland and ultimately to Hamburg, Germany. As arduous and dangerous as the trip was, Rasoulof’s travels had the added wrinkle that he was trying to finish a movie at the same time. Within weeks, his film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” won a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and Rasoulof was celebrated with a 13-minute standing ovation. Rasoulof’s movie has since been hailed as one of the best of the year, and arguably its most daring.