Mohammad Rasoulof’s latest film, GOODBYE is the story of a young lawyer (Lelya Zareh) in Tehran, Iran in search of a visa to leave the country.
She recently had her license to practice law revoked for participating in activist campaigns against the government. Her husband was exiled to work in the desert because of his role as a political journalist. Now pregnant and alone, the woman is fed up with Iran and considering terminating her pregnancy as part of a complicated scheme to leave the country.
ABOUT MOHAMMAD RASOULOF
Mohammad Rasoulof was born in Shiraz, Iran. His first feature The Twilight (2002) screened at several international film festivals including Montreal and Locarno. His second film, Iron Island (2005), was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, he shot Head Wind, a documentary about the ban on satellite dishes and Internet in Iran. In 2009, The White Meadows was presented in Official Competition at the 57th San Sebastián International Film Festival, competed in the 4th Asia Pacific Screen Awards and at the Tribeca Film Festival. Mohammad was arrested in 2010 and charged with ‘Hostile actions and waging propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran’. He was sentenced to six years in prison. Released on parole while waiting for the verdict of his appeal, he shot the film Goodbye (2011) in semi-underground conditions. In 2011, Rasoulof won the Un Certain Regard prize for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. In October 2011, the appeals court reduced his jail sentence to one year.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
