Skip to main content
The Seed of the Sacred Fig film image; woman stands with two women behind her

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

This event has passed

Misagh Zare is Iman, a newly promoted “investigator” for the Iranian government in the early days of the Women, Life, Freedom rebellion. Iman’s handgun goes missing, and it could only have been taken by one of his family members. His wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) proclaims innocence, as do his daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki). As the strife in the streets ratchets up, so do Iman’s anger and paranoia. With every passing moment, the women in his life grow more afraid—and yet none of them will confess…

The latest from Mohammad Rasoulof (There Is No Evil; A Man of Integrity) is a gripping metaphorical drama that triumphs on multiple levels: as a mystery, it’s tense and absorbing; as a portrait of family division, it’s moving; and as an act of political protest, it’s urgent and powerful. A subversive to his core, Rasoulof has paid a price for his art: sentenced to eight years in prison plus flogging, he now lives as an exile in Europe.

Director

Mohammad Rasoulof

Cast

Misagh Zare, Soheila Golestani, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki, Niousha Akhshi, Reza Akhlaghi

Credits
Country of Origin

Iran/France/Germany

Year

2024

Language

In Farsi with English subtitles

Awards

Special Prize, Cannes 2024; FIPRESCI Prize, Cannes 2024

Nominated: Best International Feature, Academy Awards

19+
167 min
Run Way Pictures

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Producer

Mohammad Rasoulof, Amin Sadraei, Jean-Christophe Simon, Mani Tilgner, Rozita Hendijanian

Screenwriter

Mohammad Rasoulof

Cinematography

Pooyan Aghababaei

Editor

Andrew Bird

Production Design

Amir Panahifar

Original Music

Karzan Mahmood

Also Playing

The Godfather

Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
175 min

A family saga in more senses than one, Francis Coppola's enthralling gangster opus aims to chronicle the American experience through the twentieth century. It is both a success story and a study of moral corruption.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Shoplifters

Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
121 min

A Palme d'or winner in 2018, Shoplifters is both a hard-edged and heartwarming drama about a makeshift family of impoverished urchins and orphans in contemporary Tokyo.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Samia

Dir. Yasemin Şamdereli
102 min

Despite growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the civil war, Samia Yusuf Omar persists in her dream of becoming an Olympic athlete and competes in Beijing, 2008 -- with London, 2012 next on her agenda. Based on a true story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Melancholia

Dir. Lars von Trier
135 min

Lars von Trier squares up to the end times with this grandly luxuriant but surprisingly punky sci-fi, set in an imposing country mansion house, where Justine (Kirsten Dunst) blows up what's supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema