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10 | 08 | 2024

‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ Director Mohammad Rasoulof on Current State of Iran

Two decades after screening his debut feature The Twilight (Gagooman) in Locarno in 2003, renowned Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof returns to the festival, presenting his latest opus The Seed of the Sacred Fig on the Piazza Grande.

Mohammad Rasoulof returns to Locarno with a heavy heart, as the dissident auteur recently chose to flee his native Iran to escape an eight-year prison sentence for “intention of committing a crime against the country’s security”. The grave decision bookmarks the director’s long and arduous journey to make films within the borders of the totalitarian regime of Iran, which had already barred Rasoulof from picking up a camera in 2011, when his Goodbye (Be omid-e didar) screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. That film, about an attorney whose license is revoked by the government, was a cunning metaphor for the way Iranian artists had been forced into silence and compliance. Like fellow dissidents such as Jafar Panahi, Rasoulof nonetheless managed to work around those constraints to make some of the most significant works of contemporary Iranian cinema. Shrouded in secrecy and shot clandestinely with fake permits, his next films went straight for the jugular of the country’s authoritarian society.

10 | 08 | 2024

“This is very heavy” - Shah Rukh Khan Award Acceptance Speech at Locarno Film Festival

Indian superstar and global icon Shah Rukh Khan touched down in Locarno to receive the prestigious Pardo alla Carriera Ascona-Locarno Tourism. The Award pays tribute to his remarkable career in Indian cinema consisting of more than 100 films in a breathtaking multitude of genres.

King Khan’s visit to the Festival has also attracted movie fans from all over the world to make their way to the Festival. So when the icon graced the stage of the Piazza Grande and delivered an energetic acceptance speech, he was met with a visibly moved and excited audience.

Watch along with us as we celebrate SRK’s time at #Locarno77.