The title of the new film The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof refers to a species of fig tree where the young shoots grow on and eventually strangle the old host tree. Set during Iran’s 2022-2023 Women, Life, Freedom (WLF) uprising, the nearly three-hour emotionally gripping drama is entered for the Best International Feature Film of the 2025 Academy Awards. During December, it will be screened in select theaters of various U.S. cities. The film won the 2024 special award for best screenplay at France’s prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
The film includes raw cell phone footage of the WLF uprising. The story artfully unfolds through the intense clash of traditional and religious values of one “father knows best” family unit. Iman, the dad (Misagh Zare) is promoted to judgeship in the Islamic regime’s courts just as the WLF uprising begins, overseeing roundups and issuing death sentences; there is Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), the conflicted but caring wife; and then there are the two defiant daughters, Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki).
The absolute, violent authority of god, country and patriarch may be familiar to audiences not only in Iran but worldwide. The movie paints such values to be as decrepit as the historic ruins that backdrop the final scenes. And you get a visceral feel on why the forced hijab is so intolerable and had provoked the WLF uprising.
The film was shot completely in secret with great creativity and commitment. Besides Rasoulof, three of its main actresses had to leave Iran and are now also living in exile. The film looks at the fierce rebellion of women in Iran against brutal oppression and indicates the potential role they may play in bringing down the theocratic regime.
Google the film title and the December calendar of theaters in your area for its screening, or contact a progressive theater and urge them to schedule a screening. This work of art has universal lessons for the stormy times we live in over the need and potential for the most radical resolution to the millennia-old patriarchal oppression of women.
Mohammad Rasoulof’s Own Real-Life Drama
One of the world’s most critically acclaimed independent film directors, Rasoulof had to escape Iran in mid-2024—on foot. An Islamic court had sentenced him to eight years in prison, flogging (i.e., whipping), and confiscation of his property for “collusion against national security.” With his passport confiscated since 2017, he walked across a mountainous border for 28 days, hidden and guided by people he had met during his two former stints in Iran’s prisons. As Rasoulof said several years ago, “What I can observe from my own story is that the satisfaction that you receive once you resist oppression and despotism can be higher than the price you have to pay.”
