Reputations are certainly tarnished.
Some go into television instead, and some never get back in the saddle.
But, so far, no one there has ever been to jail for moviemaking.
Mohammad Rasoulof at ‘The Seed Of The Sacred Fig’ red carpet in Cannes.Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images
In Iran, though, incarceration is a very real threat, as directorMohammad Rasoulofknows all too well.
He would also be lashed, something else that doesnt tend to happen to profligate auteurs in the West.
If I get arrested, you have the responsibility of finishing the film.
The Seed of the Sacred FigNeon
There was a mix of prisoners of conscience and criminals when I was there, he recalls.
Watching with him was the famous Iranian director Jafar Panahi.
Go in, and you will forget about your fears.
Even by Rasoulofs usual standards, this was a highly charged political subject.
We decided to go with a very small group and with very limited and clear resources.
Finding the actors was the first priority.
That allowed me to pick from the actresses that had made that announcement for this film.
This was also true about the other crew members.
They began without any equipment.
The rehearsals were done in small get-togethers or parties, he says.
And when the cameras did start rolling, Rasoulof was never there.
The most important strategy was that I was never present on the set, he says.
Sometimes I was much further away, sometimes I was nearer the set.
Were the authorities monitoring him?
The security agents and intelligence agents always follow you, but their ways of following have now changed.
Considering all that, I was very careful not to leave any traces behind.
I was always very careful to see what was around me and if anyone was watching.
You should remember that I served in jail and in jail, I learned many things from gangsters.
Given the very real possibility of being apprehended, the entire crew had fake scripts at all times.
There was always the risk that we would get arrested, says Rasoulof, and we had another script.
That was Plan B.
So, what was the story in the other script?
Dont the Iranian authorities hateeverything?
Actually, the Iranian authoritiesdolove propaganda.
So, based on the locations that we were in, we would come up with a story.
We always pretended that we were making several short films.
So, it always appeared as if we were making a film or a project for the state TV.
Key to the films existence, he says, was the process of editing.
As we were shooting the film, we were also sending files for him to edit.
For instance, we would shoot three or four days, and we would send him smaller-size files.
He would get started on editing those files, and we would continue with the rest of the shoot.
Thats when I started getting back to finishing the film, he says.
Thats when I touched base with my friends.
But everything was in the hands of the editor, and he had the responsibility to finish it.
I have not reached that point yet, he muses.
So, I first have to settle down and then I will figure out what the changes are.
But I just want to say this, he adds.
For seven years I was banned from leaving Iran.
And then all of a sudden there is the exact contradiction.
But at the same time, Im constantly traveling.
I have to stop traveling first to be able to figure out how to work through the two contradictions.
Was it worth it?
I never wanted to play the role of a victim.
