VTIFF is proud to bring you another of Mohammad Rasoulof’s films. Manuscripts Don’t Burn, in 2014, and There is no Evil, in 2021, were both festival hits. Now in an Iranian jail, like his fellow filmmaker and compatriot Jaafar Panahi, Rasoulof has been making scathing social commentary films aimed at the Iranian regime for over a decade. He remains relatively unknown and underappreciated in the US, despite winning numerous prizes at top festivals, like Cannes and Berlin. In A Man of Integrity, an examination of corruption and state cronyism, Reza (Reza Akhlaghirad) leads a simple life along with his wife (Soudabeh Beizaee) and young son in a remote village in Northern Iran. He spends his days working on his goldfish farm. Nearby, a private company, with close links to the government and local authorities, has taken control over nearly every aspect of regional life. Its shareholders, accumulating wealth, power, and economic influence, have been pushing local farmers and small owners to sell off their belongings, farms, and estates, to the benefit of the company. A Man of Integrity proceeds with the deliberate pace and simmering tension of a ‘70s political thriller, and every narrative twist hammers home the same point: it’s hard to be a good man in a bad system. ~OY
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