Actress of Oscar-nominated film to face 74 lashes and prison

Iranian actress Soheila Golestani is being forced to miss the annual Oscars awards ceremony and faces 74 lashes as well as a year in prison for her lead role in one of the nominated films that criticises the country.

Golestani is on trial by the Revolutionary Court over her leading role in The Seed of the Sacred Fig, an Oscar-nominated film about a family driven apart by the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022, which were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. The film spotlights moral corruption and tensions in Iranian society.

The 44-year-old faces charges of “spreading corruption on earth and propaganda against the regime” after she was taken in for interrogation in April and barred from working.

The actress plays Najmeh, the wife of a regime official who is promoted to “investigator” in the Revolutionary Court and goes on to sign off on death warrants regardless of whether there is sufficient proof. 

Golestani’s character finds herself torn between the perks of her husband’s promotion and the protests unfolding on the ground.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig has been nominated for Best International Feature Film by Germany, but Golestani will not be able to attend as she has been banned from leaving the country, she told The Times.

Unable to flee Iran

Golestani remains confined to her Tehran flat, while other actors in the film and the film’s director, Mohammad Rasoulof, were able to flee the country following the death of Iran’s then-President Ebrahim Raisi and a brief period where the curfew was lifted in Iran.  At the time, Golestani was left behind due to an emergency surgery. 

Rasoulof, who has already been arrested three times, fled to Germany after being sentenced to eight years in prison and has been pressured to pull the movie from the Cannes Film Festival. He is still wanted by Iran’s authorities while other actors have been harassed. 

Golestani missed out on several opportunities and events due to her sentencing, which also left her unable to serve on the Tiger Competition jury at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January, and unable to attend the screening of the film at the annual Cannes Film Festival last year.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig was filmed secretly and shot with two scripts in case they were approached.

This is not the first time Golestani has been in trouble with Iranian police, having spent time in the country’s Evin jail in 2022, a prison known for incinerating political prisoners.

Golestani was detained after posting a video in solidarity with the 2022 protests, with the footage showing the actress removing her hijab, which is compulsory to wear in Iran, while staring directly into the camera.