Shot entirely in secret, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s award-winning thriller, THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG, centers on a family thrust into the public eye when Iman is appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran. As political unrest erupts in the streets, Iman realizes that his job is even more dangerous than expected, making him increasingly paranoid and distrustful, even of his own wife Najmeh and daughters Sana and Rezvan.

In the wake of the announcement that THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG was selected for competition at Cannes, Rasoulef received an eight-year prison sentence (which included whipping, as his revolutionary art is perceived to "represent crimes against the country’s security"). He fled Iran, where the film was made, and has since re-settled in Germany.

Nominated for numerous awards (and nabbing a Golden Globe nomination for Best International Film) and taking home trophies from fests around the world (including a coveted Special Jury Prize at Cannes), Rasoulef's extraordinarily subversive psychological thriller is Germany's official entry to the 2025 Academy Awards, and is currently shortlisted for Best International Feature Film.

"A blistering, propulsive thriller." (New Yorker)

"Mohammad Rasoulof’s sorrowful new film, 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig', a powerful tale of conscience and conflict made while he was evading Iran’s oppressive theocracy, is shot through with potent metaphors." (Toronto Star)

"Through a single family, Mr. Rasoulof has created a vivid portrait of the dilemmas of today’s Iran, where the power of iman, or faith, suggests one kind of observation but the power of the iPhone suggests another." (Wall Street Journal)

"'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' is a political thriller, a horror movie, and an ode to that unrepentance. The boldness of Iranian girls and women is its inspiration and its essence." (Vulture)

"Rasoulof’s film damns Iran for its fanatical, corrupting, chauvinistic tyranny, all while generating breakneck suspense and, ultimately, resolving its tale with a disaster that contains within it a measure of hopefulness." (The Daily Beast)

Friday, February 7
Doors 5:30 pm | Movie 6:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG "Dâne-ye anjîr-e ma'âbed" (Mohammad Rasoulef, 2025 / 167 mins / 14A / Farsi with English subtitles) A paranoid father imposes strict measures on his wife and daughters, which leads to intense verbal altercations and the man holding the women captive at gunpoint.