Mohammad Rasoulof was born in Iran in 1972. In 2002, he made his first feature film, The Twilight, and in 2009, he made his debut in the Official Competition Selection at the San Sebastián Film Festival with the release of The White Meadows. In 2010, Iranian authorities raided the set and arrested Rasoulof on charges of filming without a licence. He was sentenced to six years in prison, later reduced to one. In 2011, his film Goodbye was selected for the Cannes Film Festival, where he returned in 2013 with Manuscripts Don't Burn, which earned him the FIPRESCI Prize from international critics. In 2017, A Man of Integrity confirmed that third time’s the charm, as Rasoulof won the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. That same year, his passport was confiscated, and the regime declared him mamnu'-ol-xoruğ, meaning he was banned from leaving the country. In 2019, he was sentenced to another year in prison for A Man of Integrity. After three trips to Cannes, There Is No Evil was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, which the director was unable to receive in person because he was prevented from leaving Iran. The film also received the Ecumenical Jury Prize. Rasoulof was arrested again in June 2022 for supporting the protests that erupted in Iran after the collapse of a building that left more than forty people dead. He was released for health reasons at the beginning of 2023 but remained banned from leaving Iran. In May 2024, after it was announced that his new film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, would have its world premiere in the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Iranian authorities sentenced Rasoulof to an additional eight years in prison, along with flogging and the confiscation of all his possessions. The director managed to flee the country clandestinely and is now in exile in Europe. The film received universal acclaim at Cannes, where it was awarded the Special Jury Prize, the FIPRESCI Prize, and the Ecumenical Jury Prize. It will premiere in Portugal in the Official Selection in Competition at LEFFEST, in what will be the director’s first appearance as a guest in the festival. In 2017, A Man of Integrity was also selected for the Official Competition and, in 2020, There Is No Evil was part of the Official Selection Out of Competition.
