Germany has chosen the film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, directed by Iranian dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, as its entry for the 2025 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature category.
It marks the first time an Iranian film has been submitted by Germany for Oscar consideration.
Rasoulof qualified for the selection because the film is an Iranian-French-German co-production and because he is now a German resident.
The director fled Iran earlier this year to avoid an eight-year prison sentence.
He was sentenced for his public statements and for making films and documentaries, which, in the court’s opinion, were “examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country’s security.”
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which won a special jury prize at Cannes, has been banned in Iran.
Rasoulof’s films are celebrated alongside those of fellow countrymen Abbas Kiarostami, Asghar Farhadi, and Jafar Panahi, earning critical acclaim beyond Iran's borders.
Among them, Panahi has endured the most consistent persecution by the Iranian state, enduring multiple imprisonments and house arrests.
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