The Fipresci Award for best film in the Un Certain Regard series went to Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof’s Manuscripts Don’t Burn.
Secretly shot in Iran, “Manuscript” centers on a former political prisoner who manages to write his memoirs about his time in jail despite being under state security surveillance.
The plot reflects director Rasoulof’s own situation in Iran, where he is currently on bail, awaiting a one-year prison sentence for shooting without a permit in 2010.
Beyond its subject matter, Rasoulof said that he was very proud that critics had recognized the cinematographic merits of “Manuscripts Don’t Burn.”
