The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Iman (Misagh Zare), a functionary in the Iranian regime who has been promoted to the role of investigator for the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, grapples with mistrust and paranoia as nationwide political protests intensify. When his gun mysteriously disappears, he suspects the involvement of his wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and his daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki), and the increasingly unstable man imposes draconian measures upon his own family. An impassioned outcry against oppression, Mohammad Rasoulof’s enthralling film morphs seamlessly from claustrophobic family drama into a nail-biting thriller. The film was hugely controversial in Iran, where the director narrowly escaped a public flogging and an eight-year prison sentence. Rasoulof was able to flee the country before his arrest, and now lives in exile in Europe.