‘If I was on the set, it would endanger the team and the film’: How Mohamed Rasulof was able to shoot his film in secret

After a breakout performance at Cannes, where it won a special prize, The Wild Fig Tree Seed hits theaters this Wednesday. It is directed by Mohammad Rasulof, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison in Iran.

Against all odds, the filmmaker did everything to make this film a success, even finding a special way to shoot his film, while staying away from the set of the film. We were able to meet the director when he arrived in Paris and asked him in what condition he was able to shoot without getting in the way? Here’s what he told us.

I have never been on the set

“It’s a bit difficult. It’s funny, poignant, funny, and infuriating at the same time. During filming, I always had to direct from a distance, because being on the set put the crew and the film at risk. Sometimes I was very far from the team. Another time, closer. But anyway, I was never on the set. And that, in itself, is very difficult to really master the staging without actually being there.

I had two types of assistants: one who worked with the image team and one who worked with the actors. And the actors themselves were each assistants. They were so committed, so on the same wavelength as me, that I felt their involvement with my cinematographer, sound engineer, producer… everyone had this common goal: they knew that what he did was beyond cinema.

To be honest, we still thought we wouldn’t finish this movie

Even if it was extremely difficult, there was also a nice dimension every time we managed to finish a sequence, finish working on the set. There was indescribable joy between us. To be honest, we always thought we wouldn’t finish this film. So we really tried to take it day by day and live in the moment.

It is probably very difficult to understand this in France, because we do not have the experience of confronting this censorship.

It is probably very difficult to understand this in France, because we do not have the experience of confronting this censorship. But when you are under the pressure of censorship for the smallest details, you manage to escape it, you manage to ignore it, it gives me a deep sense of satisfaction, dignity, satisfaction. Despite the fear that prevailed, the pressure that we felt, this pleasure did not leave us.”

The history of the seed of the wild fig tree follows Iman. He has just been promoted to investigative judge in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court as a massive popular protest movement begins to shake the country. Overwhelmed by the scale of events, he confronts the absurdity of the system and its injustice, but decides to conform to it. At home, his two daughters, Rezwani and Sana, students, fiercely support the movement, while his wife, Najmeh, tries to accommodate both camps. Paranoia sets in when his service weapon mysteriously disappears…

The seeds of the wild fig tree It’s currently in theaters.