Cinema releases. 3 films from the 2024 back-to-school season that celebrate freedom in all its forms

In search of freedom in Iran

Seeds of the wild fig tree
by Mohammad Rasoulof
Drama. 2 h 46. In theaters September 18.

A good father, an exemplary husband, a conscientious civil servant: Iman has all the makings of an honest man. But once promoted to the post of investigating judge at the revolutionary court in Tehran, his life changes.

The patriarch of Mohammad Rasoulof’s new film – who received the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2020 for The devil does not exist – is ordered to sentence to death any opponent of the regime as the popular protest movement “Women, Life, Freedom” breaks out.

Meanwhile, holed up at home, her two student daughters follow the events on social media. They secretly help one of their friends who was injured during an anti-regime demonstration.

Sensing where his daughters’ sympathy lies, Iman gradually locks them away in unbearable surveillance. When one morning, he no longer finds his weapon, put away the night before in the drawer of his bedside table, he imposes tough interrogations on his own children and his wife Najmeh…

Faced with this paranoia, which grows crescendo throughout the film, the daughters and wife embark on a desperate quest for freedom. “Unconditional submission to the religious and political institutions in power in Iran has created deep divisions within families,” Mohammad Rasoulof said during the presentation of his film at Cannes last spring.

Eminently political, this work will touch every viewer with its universal character: the filmmaker explores the degradation of family ties when they are subjected to a hold. Presented just before the closing of the Cannes Film Festival, this gripping film received the Special Jury Prize as well as the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

Unexpectedly, the Iranian director’s presence created an event on the Croisette. In order to escape a five-year prison sentence for his creations and his political commitment, Mohammad Rasoulof in fact left his country clandestinely on foot, before reaching Germany, which granted him asylum.

“My thoughts are with the members of my team (…) who are being held in Iran and who are under pressure from the secret services of the Islamic Republic,” said the filmmaker upon receiving his award.

According to the Iranian press, 71 films made and produced without the regime’s authorization were sent to the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Our opinion: ppp