\n<\/p>\n
\n\tIranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose \u201cThe Seed of the Sacred Fig\u201d was Oscar nominated, is considering making a film in another language.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIf I\u2019d want to make a film in Europe right now, or in the West, everything\u2019s ready,\u201d he told Variety\u00a0<\/em>before accepting the first-ever Locarno City of Peace Award.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe question is not when to start making it. The question that concerns me more is this: \u2018Who am I? What does it mean to be me? Where do I continue my struggle?\u2019 That\u2019s what will inform my next work.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRasoulof fled Iran after being sentenced to eight years in prison.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen you\u2019re making a film in a foreign country, in a foreign language, obviously you need time to really grapple with the society you want to reflect in a deep, meaningful way. You have to really understand it and submerge yourself in it. What concerns me, I think, is that I come from a traumatic and difficult personal history, which at the same time is the basis for my creative work.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRasoulof has been open about his difficult time in Iranian jails, admitting he watched his film \u201cThere Is No Evil\u201d with his own prison guards.<\/p>\n \n\tThere are \u201ca few stories right now I am very interested in,\u201d he said. \u201cI find it very interesting to face people from different cultures. But then I say to myself: \u2018Shouldn\u2019t I do something more important?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAt the moment, he feels stuck \u201cin between places,\u201d which is something many people can understand these days regardless of their roots, suggested\u00a0Variet<\/em>y during the conversation.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut that\u2019s the thing: Do I want to be more universal? Or do I want to pay my dues?,\u201d he wondered. \u201cI have a sense of responsibility toward the place I belong to. You know, I\u2019ve been told my films are not going to make it into the history of cinema because they have too much to do with our daily life. But why would I want to enter the history of cinema when I cannot be free?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to Rasoulof, regimes tend to \u201cdistract artists from paying attention to and telling the story of what\u2019s happening around them.\u201d He added, \u201cI have a lot of philosophical questions about life and about existence \u2013 a lot. But how can I be thinking about that when people I know happen to be in prison and then that prison is hit by a missile?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe continued, \u201cI can\u2019t just sit here and not think about my people. I\u2019m drinking some water and remember that in Tehran, because of the regime\u2019s negligence, they don\u2019t have access to it. I\u2019m being constantly catapulted into Iran also in my personal, private life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe question he\u2019s asking himself these days is this: \u201cWhat\u2019s my priority? And where do I belong?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m here physically, but I\u2019m there mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHistory has many important stories to tell, he said. \u201cBrazil is a country that underwent political changes, but its filmmakers are still looking at their past. I don\u2019t think you should have to choose between freedom and creativity. They shouldn\u2019t be weighed against each other. It\u2019s not like once you achieve freedom, you lose your artistic creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Locarno City of Peace Award \u2013 established by the city of Locarno in collaboration with the fest and set to be presented biennially \u2013 honors \u201cfigures from the cultural space who have distinguished themselves in promoting peace, diplomacy and dialogue among peoples.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tJurors Ruth Dreifuss, Laura Sadis, Marco Solari, Rapha\u00ebl Brunschwig and Locarno\u2019s mayor Nicola Pini praised the director for \u201ccombining formal rigor with civic engagement.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tRasoulof understands he can\u2019t just talk about his films, he said. In the end, he\u2019s always talking about his country as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOf course it\u2019s difficult, having to explain the situation in Iran every single time, especially because it\u2019s so complex and contradictory. It\u2019s a\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0war. But I can\u2019t just sit here and not think of my Iranian colleagues and the enormous pressures they\u2019re facing.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAfter \u201cThe Seed of a Sacred Fig\u201d triumphant festival run, Iranian cinema has continued its ubiquity with Jafar Panahi\u2019s Palme d\u2019Or win for \u201cIt Was Just an Accident\u201d and Soheil Beiraghi\u2019s \u201cBidad\u201d award at Karlovy Vary, making it impossible to ignore. Still, any change in Iran would \u201cdepend on lots of different factors \u2013 not just on cinema,\u201d stressed Rasoulof.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cCinema is more dependent on changes in society [than the other way around]. But the society in Iran is moving at a neck-breaking speed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose \u201cThe Seed of the Sacred Fig\u201d was Oscar nominated, is considering making a film in another language.\u00a0 \u201cIf I\u2019d want to make a film in Europe right now, or in the West, everything\u2019s ready,\u201d he told Variety\u00a0before accepting the first-ever Locarno City of Peace Award. \u201cThe question is not when<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1171,218,167,8823,8825,8824,2187],"class_list":{"0":"post-15236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-film","9":"tag-irans","10":"tag-making","11":"tag-mohammad","12":"tag-mulling","13":"tag-rasoulof","14":"tag-west"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}