THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

Despite constant repression in his home country, which has already led him to be imprisoned twice, exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof continues to make hard-hitting films. His latest one is about an examining magistrate whose gun disappears unexpectedly just as huge anti-hijab protests erupt in Tehran. THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG begins as a downbeat political and domestic drama in the familiar style of Iranian cinema, and then progressively escalates to something extravagantly crazy and traumatized as the judge and his wife are pitted in a generational clash against their two dissenting university-age daughters, who are appalled by the brutal crackdowns on protesters. This timely drama is an eloquent record of and warning to a regime clinging to power at the expense of freedom. It received a special prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with Rasoulof in attendance, freshly escaped from his country.