Co-presented with Telescope Film

KINO! Film Salon is a monthly online club to discuss films from Germany.
 
How it works: Each month we choose a German film currently available to stream on U.S. platforms, watch it independently, and come together for a hosted conversation with other fans of German cinema.

For our June session, we chose Mohammad Rasoulof’s Oscar-nominated political thriller The Seed of the Sacred Fig. Iman, a devout lawyer in Tehran, is promoted to investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court, a role that offers financial security but demands moral compromise. As anti-government protests escalate across the country, his daughters Rezvan and Sana sympathize with the movement, straining the relationship with their parents. When Rezvan’s friend is injured in a protest and Iman’s gun goes missing, he begins to suspect his own family. As KINO! Film Salon host Jim Kolmar notes, “elegantly poised between blunt political allegory and intimate family drama, the film is a powerful fable, depicting the harsh reality of life under a regime built on obfuscation, corruption, and paranoia.”

Joining this KINO! Film Salon session is German producer Mani Tilgner, who will share stories and insights about shooting The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Among its 36 awards and 71 nominations, The Seed of the Sacred Fig won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and the Norwegian Peace Film Award. It was nominated for Best International Film as the Germany’s entry to the Academy Awards.

Hosted by Jim Kolmar

Jim programs for SXSW and Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival, and was a founding committee member of Festival Internacional de Cine Tulum (FICTU). He has participated in numerous international festival juries, panels, and committees.
 
KINO! Film Salon is a production of Telescope Film, in partnership with the German Film Office.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
Germany/Iran/France, 2024
166 minutes
With Missagh Zareh, Soheila Golestani, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki