Germany's Oscar® candidate "Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree" by Mohammad Rasoulof opens AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS 2024. The festival will take place in Berlin from November 29th to December 7th, 2024. "Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree", one of the most important films of the year, will have its theatrical release next December. Before that, the award-winning drama will celebrate its Berlin premiere as the opening film of the 19th edition of the Berlin World Cinema Festival. The festival starts its cinematic world tour on Friday, November 29th, in the cinema in the KulturBrauerei.
“Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree” is Germany's official Oscar® submission for the “Best International Feature Film” category in 2025. The majority co-production by Hamburg-based company Run Way Pictures (Germany, France, Iran 2024) also received five awards at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, including the Special Jury Prize. In 2020, the director received the Golden Bear at the 70th Berlinale for “But Evil Does Not Exist”. Mohammad Rasoulof's works have been featured several times at AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS, for example in 2011 ( “Goodbye” , Intercultural Film Award at “14 Films”), 2013 ( “Manuscripts don't burn” ) and 2017 ( “A Man of Integrity” ).
Content: "Iman has just been promoted to investigating judge at the Revolutionary Court in Tehran when a huge protest movement takes hold of the country following the death of a young woman. Although the demonstrations are increasing and the state is cracking down with increasingly harsh measures, Iman chooses the side of the regime, thereby upsetting his family's balance. While the devout family man struggles with the psychological stress of his new job, his daughters Rezvan and Sana are shocked and electrified by the events. His wife Najmeh, in turn, tries desperately to keep everyone together. Then Iman discovers that his service weapon has gone missing and he suspects his family..." The German theatrical release will be on December 26, 2024 (Alamode Film).
Director: Mohammad Rasoulof was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1972. While studying sociology, he began his career with documentaries and short films. To date, Mohammad Rasoulof has produced eight feature films, none of which have been shown in Iran due to censorship. The director was most recently sentenced to several years in prison in May 2024, but was subsequently able to escape Iran. His important and award-winning works include "But Evil Does Not Exist" (2020, Golden Bear at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival), "A Man of Integrity" (2017), "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (2013) and "Goodbye" (2011).
From November 29 to December 7, 2024, AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS will show highlights of current world cinema that were previously celebrated and awarded at the leading film festivals in Cannes, Venice and Sundance. The festival cinemas are the Kino in der KulturBrauerei and the delphi LUX, Neues Off and Rollberg cinemas. The main partners in 2024 are Audi City Berlin, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, ARTE and CineStar.
The full program of the 19th edition of AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS will be published on the website on Friday, November 8, 2024. Ticket sales will start on Tuesday, November 12, 2024.
Film still: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree” © Films Boutique, Alamode Film