Mohammad Rasoulof, the Iranian filmmaker who directed the Berlin Golden Bear winner “There Is No Evil,” has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran and will also be flogged, his lawyer, Babak Paknia said on Wednesday.
According to Paknia, Rasoulof received this sentence for involvement in films that are “examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country’s security,” and for public statements the country’s authoritarian regime objected to.
This comes after he was subjected to punitive scrutiny for his latest film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” which will premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.