Iranian Director Mohammad Rasoulof Sentenced to Prison, Flogging Ahead of Cannes

Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been sentenced by the Islamic Revolutionary Court to eight years in prison, flogging, and confiscation of property. The ruling came down just days before the start of the Cannes Film Festival, where Rasoulof is premiering his newest film in competition, The Seed of the Sacred Fig. According to translated tweets from Rasoulof’s lawyer, Babak Paknia, he was sentenced for “signing statements and making films and documentaries,”...