MOHAMMAD RASOULOF | IRAN | 2013 | 127' | PERSIAN WITH DUTCH SUBTITLES
Like many of his colleagues, such as Jafar Panahi and Abbas Kiarostami, director Mohammed Rasoulof has experienced in person how difficult and dangerous it is to make critical films in Iran. Last summer he was banned from travelling outside Iran, but already in 2010 he was sentenced to six years in prison for 'filming without a permit'. After being released on bail he continued filming. He clandestinely shot Manuscripts Don't Burn, a true-crime thriller as well as a protest against persecution and censorship,
Kasra, a writer and one-time political prisoner, becomes involved with the secret service when they find out that he is writing a book about an attack on a busload of dissidents, which was probably schemed by the government. He agrees to hand over the manuscript, however only in exchange for permission to leave the country. He brazenly claims the book will be published anyway should something happen to him, as two of his friends have copies of the manuscript. This is a major miscalculation on the part of naïve Kasra, who has no idea what he has gotten himself into. Two relentless agents are sent to retrieve all copies of the manuscript.
Distribution: from 25 September 2014, Wild Bunch.
Screenings
Venue: Rialto
TUE 19 AUG – 21.30 
Venue: De Balie
SUN 24 AUG – 14.15
Venue: VU Campus
TUE 2 SEPT – 20.15 (with special avant programme)