The Director Who Wasn’t There: Mohammad Rasoulof, Free and in Person

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

I conducted this interview with Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof in London in December 2024, and it was published in Sight & Sound magazine in February of the following year. — EK

“I am very close to nature. I spend a great deal of time in the mountains. If Iran becomes a free country one day, I’d love to make wildlife documentaries,” says Mohammad Rasoulof who fled the country by crossing the mountainous terrain of western Iran on foot with nothing — not even a passport (previously confiscated) — to arrive in Europe and add the final touches to The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which premiered in Cannes last May. The man who could have been the David Attenborough of Iran is, until further notice, one of the foremost clandestine filmmakers in that country.

“For now, the freedom and dignity of man are my top priorities. I keep asking myself why a system allows itself to do this to us.”

The director who wasn’t there: Mohammad Rasoulof on The Seed of the Sacred Fig

 “I am very close to nature. I spend a great deal of time in the mountains. If Iran becomes a free country one day, I’d love to make wildlife documentaries,” says Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled the country last year, crossing the mountainous terrain of western Iran on foot with nothing, not even a passport (which had been confiscated). He sought refuge in Germany and added the final touches there to The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which premiered in Cannes last May. The man who could have been the David Attenborough of Iran is, until further notice, one of the foremost clandestine filmmakers from that country. “For now, the freedom and dignity of man are my top priorities,” he says. “I keep asking myself why a system allows itself to do this to us.”