Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled a prison and flogging sentence in his home country, was awarded a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his tale of a court investigator whose family life is torn apart during anti-government protests. In accepting the award in the French resort town, the 51-year-old Rasoulof said his heart was with his film crew, who were “still under the pressure of the secret services back in Iran.” The special jury prize was given to Rasoulof for “drawing attention to alleged unsustainable injustice” in Iran, organizers said after a screening of the film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, led to a 12-minute ovation. The festival’s top prize, meanwhile, went to the film Anora, a sensual drama and comedy about an exotic dancer who becomes involved with a Russian oligarch’s son. Earlier at a news conference, Rasoulof recalled how he had to decide within hours whether to go into exile or serve a prison sentence, saying it was still difficult to talk about. “I had to say to myself, well, do I want to be in prison, or should I leave Iran, geographic Iran, and join the cultural Iran that exists beyond its borders?” said Rasoulof, who is an outspoken critic of repression in Iran and has twice served prison terms. Iran’s judiciary sentenced Rasoulof to flogging and eight years in prison after he was convicted of “collusion against national security,” his lawyer, Babak Paknia, said on May 8.