Elle Driver to sell clandestine Iranian film

Paris-based Elle Driver has picked up international sales on Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof’s clandestinely shot picture Manuscripts Don’t Burn which is premiering in Un Certain Regard.

According to a new synopsis, differing from that in the festival catalogue, the picture revolves around former Iranian political prisoner and author Kasra, who manages to secretly write his memoirs despite being under constant surveillance by state security apparatus.

His stories are related to his time in jail as a political prisoner as well as different events connected to his life as an intellectual in Iran.

Kasra has prepared everything in order to publish these writings and is getting ready to leave the country but security service agents uncover his plans. They will do anything to destroy the manuscripts.

Independent film-maker Rasoulof has made several feature-length films but none have ever been released in his native Iran.

In 2010, he was arrested on the set of a film and charged with shooting without a permit. He was given a six-year prison sentence which was reduced to one-year on appeal. He is currently on bail awaiting the execution of the sentence.

Rasoulof’s penultimate pictre Goodbye premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2011, winning Best Director.

Due to censorship in Iran and in order to maintain their safety, the cast and crew will remain anonymous.