{"id":50219,"date":"2024-05-14T12:34:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T12:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/14\/acclaimed-iranian-film-director-flees-country-after-jail-sentence\/"},"modified":"2024-05-14T12:34:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T12:34:09","slug":"acclaimed-iranian-film-director-flees-country-after-jail-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/14\/acclaimed-iranian-film-director-flees-country-after-jail-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Acclaimed Iranian Film Director Flees Country After Jail Sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/14\/multimedia\/14iran-director-gmkf\/14iran-director-gmkf-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Acclaimed Iranian Film Director Flees Country After Jail Sentence\" title=\"Acclaimed Iranian Film Director Flees Country After Jail Sentence\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The celebrated Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof said he had fled the country, after a court sentenced him to eight years in prison for his movies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rasoulof \u2014 known for his award-winning film \u201cThere Is No Evil\u201d \u2014 had been barred from leaving Iran after his work criticized life under authoritarian rule in the country. His lawyer, Babak Paknia, wrote last week <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrPaknia\/status\/1788212856720076867\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">on social media<\/a> that a court had sentenced Mr. Rasoulof to imprisonment, whipping and a fine for movies that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrPaknia\/status\/1788212856720076867\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">it called<\/a> \u201cexamples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country\u2019s security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Monday, Mr. Rasoulof announced his escape from Iran <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C66XRknIFGF\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">in an Instagram post<\/a> that featured a video of snow-capped mountains and said he had reached a \u201csafe place\u201d after a \u201cdifficult and long journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Addressing Iran\u2019s clerical rulers, Mr. Rasoulof said he had been forced to leave \u201cbecause of your oppression and barbarity,\u201d and that he had now joined Iranians in exile who were \u201cimpatiently waiting to bury you and your machine of oppression in the depths of history.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He did not provide details on his location or respond to a message from The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere Is No Evil\u201d \u2014 which focused on executioners in Iran \u2014 won the top prize in the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020. Mr. Rasoulof, who had directed the film in secret, was not allowed to leave the country to attend that award ceremony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Iran\u2019s film industry is acclaimed internationally and heavily policed at home, where the authorities can ban screening and filming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rasoulof\u2019s new movie, \u201cThe Seed of the Sacred Fig,\u201d is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of the film\u2019s producers were interrogated by the authorities and some of its actors were barred from leaving the country, Mr. Paknia <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrPaknia\/status\/1784985039349874940\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said in social media posts<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rasoulof <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/01\/movies\/rasoulof-iran-filmmakers-protest.html\" title=\"\">told The New York Times in 2020<\/a> that early on in his career he had used allegorical stories to avoid confronting power directly, but eventually felt that was \u201ca form of accepting the tyrannical regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He went on to offer sharp critiques of Iran\u2019s clerical rulers with his films, including \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/06\/13\/movies\/manuscripts-dont-burn-about-repression-in-iran.html\" title=\"\">Manuscripts Don\u2019t Burn<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/review\/a-man-integrity-1005450\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">A Man of Integrity<\/a>\u201d \u2014 which won an award at Cannes in 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the years, the Iranian authorities had charged him with propaganda against the state, confiscated his passport, arrested and prosecuted him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2024\/film\/global\/mohammad-rasoulof-leaves-iran-prison-sentence-cannes-seed-of-the-sacred-fig-1236000724\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">statement released on Monday<\/a>, Mr. Rasoulof said \u201cthe scope and intensity of repression has reached a point of brutality where people expect news of another heinous government crime every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Leily Nikounazar<!-- --> contributed reporting from Brussels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/14\/world\/middleeast\/iran-director-rasoulof.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The celebrated Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof said he had fled the country, after a court sentenced him to eight years in prison for his movies. Mr. Rasoulof \u2014 known for his award-winning film \u201cThere Is No Evil\u201d \u2014 had been barred from leaving Iran after his work criticized life under authoritarian rule in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/14\/multimedia\/14iran-director-gmkf\/14iran-director-gmkf-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50407,643,439,616,9902,16121,9197,1756],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50221,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50219\/revisions\/50221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}