Mohammad Rasoulof, the renowned director of “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” recently revealed some captivating details about his forthcoming animated feature to Variety. The project aims to provide an in-depth depiction of the life of Abbas Nalbandian, a legendary absurdist Iranian playwright, starting from ten years before the Iranian Revolution to a decade following his demise.
Through this animated biographical film, Rasoulof intends to shed light on three crucial decades of modern Iranian history. He believes that the most effective way to do justice to this era is through a stylized form of filmmaking.
Rasoulof recounts a unique incident that took place just before the revolution when every Iranian witnessed the face of Ayatollah Khomeini in the moon. This collective hallucination, according to him, is something that can only be accurately portrayed through animation.
Animation also serves as a way for the exiled filmmaker to virtually return to the streets of Tehran. Currently residing in Germany and communicating with Variety from the Marrakech Film Festival, the fugitive filmmaker has no immediate intentions of going back to his homeland. However, he is determined to continue producing stories that depict his native country.
Rasoulof asserts his identity as an Iranian director, articulating that he draws inspiration from his community, the society he dearly loves, and the language he knows well.
As he embarks on a new journey in exile, Rasoulof plans to seek inspiration from recent films of the Persian diaspora. He is particularly interested in Farsi-language titles like Ali Abbasi’s “Holy Spider,” which was shot in Jordan, and Matthew Rankin’s “Universal Language,” shot in Canada. The latter also represents Canada as its International Feature Oscar selection this year. Rasoulof also aims to aggregate talent and themes from a more global community.
Rasoulof acknowledges the vast Iranian community living abroad, stating, “So this will be my new field of investigation and imagination.”
In the past, the filmmaker adopted a similar approach, filming a significant part of his Cannes-praised 2013 film “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” in Europe. As with his secretive methods used for “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” he primarily made this choice to evade government surveillance.
Rasoulof believes that despite seemingly having more freedom on paper, he feels increasingly confined.
“Being in Europe, cut from [my community] is a limitation and a restriction in itself,” he says. “Not being nurtured by an environment while pretending you’re still a part of it is a challenge, but I know it’s possible, and I’ll give myself some time and distance to let a new idea take hold and push me to explore new methods to deal with those new restrictions. I’ll find a way.”
Credit: variety.com
