Saeed Roustaee, the “wonder boy” of Iranian cinema

No offense to Asghar Farhadi who did not push to award him an award at Cannes, Saeed Roustaee embodies the new guard of Iranian cinema. The director arose in the galaxy of 7^e art like a cannonball thanks to his second film, Tehran Law (2021), a tense social thriller, evolving in the heart of an Iranian society devastated by the consumption of crack. Last May, his third film, Leila and her brothers , was directly selected in official competition at Cannes and shook both the public and the critics.

With his curly mane, his thick beard and his big frank smile, this fiery thirty-something does not bother with details. He charts his course with energy, even if he has to deal with the government, which last June decided toban the release of the film in Iran “until further notice” to get “breaks the rules by participating without authorization in foreign festivals, in Cannes and then in Munich“, specified the Iranian minister…