Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof represents Iran at the Un Certain Regard competition section of the 70th Cannes Film Festival, May 17-28, with his latest film ‘Lerd’ (A Man of Integrity).
His last two films also competed in the same section. ‘Goodbye’ picked up the Best Director Prize in 2011 and ‘Manuscripts Don’t Burn’ won the FIPRESCI Prize in 2013.
This year he competes with 17 other films. ‘Lerd’ tells the story of a couple who have retired to the countryside but whose land is coveted by a private company.
On making the film, Rasoulof, 45, said, “Combining a realistic environment with the one created by CGI (computer-generated imagery) was my biggest challenge in the film. From the story writing stage I was worried that these sections may not be representative of my kind of stories and was fearful of them ending up Hollywood style.”
“Anyway, I made my decision and went ahead with them. We had a great team at the Magic Lab in Prague who patiently stayed with me and managed to produce these scenes in a way which fitted in with my story. I think that, to a great extent, my phobia of using special effects melted away,” the festival website quoted him as saying.
Rasoulof has written the story of ‘Lerd’ and Reza Akhlaghirad and Soudabeh Beizaee are in the cast.
Award-winning actress Uma Thurman is the president of the five-member jury of the Un Certain Regard section.
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