Soheila Golestani Remains Unable to Leave Iran and Misses Rotterdam Film Festival Jury Role

Soheila Golestani, who was introduced as a member of the jury for the competitive section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands, lost the opportunity to attend this festival due to her continued travel ban. This European festival had announced her as one of its jury members on December 11, alongside filmmakers from the UK, Indonesia, and Hong Kong to judge films in the festival's competition section. At that time, Golestani was already banned from leaving the country by the Iranian judiciary, and her potential attendance at the festival was uncertain due to her role in the film 'Fig Tree of Temples' directed by Mohammad Rasoulof. The film magazine 'Deadline' reported on Thursday, February 1, that despite this, Mohammad Rasoulof, the film's director who left Iran last year, will be present at the Rotterdam festival and will speak on February 4 at a session titled 'Cinema and the Rise of Authoritarianism.' Iranian judicial authorities have opened legal cases against several members of the film 'Fig Tree of Temples' on various charges, and some of them, including Golestani, have been banned from leaving the country. Golestani was previously nominated for Best Actress at the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards for her role in 'Fig Tree of Temples,' where she plays the wife of a Tehran Revolutionary Court investigator amid the protests of 2022. During the protests of 2022, Golestani, along with theater director Hamid Pourazari, was arrested by security forces after a video was released showing them supporting the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests. In that video, several theater artists, including Golestani, were seen in black clothing and without mandatory hijab in front of the camera. 'Fig Tree of Temples,' which was made without adhering to the mandatory hijab censorship laws for female actors, premiered at the Cannes Festival in late May of this year and won the jury's special prize. This film has been submitted by Germany for the 2025 Oscars and has also been nominated for the prestigious Golden Globe Award for Best Non-English Language Film.