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Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof will probably be unable to attend the German 1 October premiere of his film „Manuscripts Don’t Burn” at Filmfest Hamburg. Rasoulof had flown to Iran on 19 September, hoping to return to Hamburg on 26 September. Filmfest Hamburg has learned, however, that Iranian authorities confiscated Rasoulof’s passport upon his arrival. So far, it has not been returned to him.
„We had been full of hope that the new political climate in Iran would benefit Mr Mohammad Rasoulof and that the new government would allow him to leave the country on time – especially since his wife and daughter are waiting here for him”, said Filmfest Hamburg festival director Albert Wiederspiel.
In 2010, a Revolutionary Court sentenced Rasoulof to six years in prison for „endangering national security“, also debarring him from working in his profession for the next 20 years. The prison term was later reduced to one year. Rasoulof spent a couple of weeks in the political prisoners’ wing of Tehran’s Evin prison before finally being released on bail.
Against the court’s orders, Rasoulof started working again. The Iranian filmmaker first shot „Bé Omid é Didar” („Goodbye”), the film that opened the Filmfest Hamburg 2011. That same year, the film won him the Best Directors award of the “Un Certain Regard” section at Cannes.
His latest film „Manuscripts Don’t Burn” was produced under strict secrecy in Hamburg and Tehran. In Cannes, the film was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize, again in the category „Un Certain Regard”. At Filmfest Hamburg, the film has been nominated in the category „The Political Film” of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a prize awarded for the first time this year.
Short film info: Teheran: Morteza and Khosrow are given the job of liquidating someone. If possible, it should look like an accident. At the last minute, however, both are forced to change their original plan. The film portrays the everyday world of surveillance, intimidation and torture in Iran without recourse to the usual thriller effects, which makes it all the more disquieting.
Further information on Manuscripts Don't Burn
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