Iranian author Mohammad Rasoulof’s new film “The Sense of Water” (the dissident director’s first film since “The Sacred Fig Seed”) has been selected for worldwide distribution by Films Boutique, a sales company based in Berlin and Lyon.
The 39-minute short “The Sense of Water,” which will premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, is also Rasoulof’s first film shot outside of Iran. The film reflects his personal journey since fleeing to Germany in May 2024 after being imprisoned and flogged by Iranian authorities for making The Sacred Fig, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
In “The Sense of Water,” an exiled Iranian writer retires to a glass cabin in the “northernmost tip of the world” with his ex-lover Nazanin, as the synopsis states.
“So, in the silence of the night, he will say goodbye. Despite facing a long prison sentence, Ali has decided to return to Iran to continue the fight he left behind.”
“My lived experience in exile was the starting point for this story,” Rasulov said in a director’s statement. “I suddenly realized that what I had initially lost was the ability to feel words deeply, immediately, and intimately in a second language.”
“Though the person in exile strives to build a new life, he finds himself estranged from his most basic feelings. It is as if exile is not only the absence of a homeland, but a disconnection between words and feelings, between language and experience.”
Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique, commented: “Following the huge success of The Sacred Fig Seed, we are very proud to continue our collaboration with Mohammad Rasoulof and our friends at Run Way Pictures.” Additionally, he said, “its subject matter sadly resonates with current realities.”
Sense of Water is clearly a very timely work, given the recent killing of thousands of protesters in Rasoulof’s hometown. The film was produced by Amin Sadlai, Rosita Hendijanian and Mani Tilgner through Run Way Pictures in Hamburg. The film is supported by Cate Blanchett’s recently launched Displacement Film Fund, the Hubert Barth Fund, and the Moin Film Fund of Hamburg-Schleswig-Holstein.
Written and directed by Rasourov,
displacement film fund
