Manuscripts Don’t Burn(HKAFF 2019)

Mohammad Rasoulof tosses aside allegory and metaphor for this based-on-reality thriller that chillingly details the evil men do in service of an authoritarian government. The multi-strand narrative follows two low-level Iran government operatives assigned to kidnap a dissident writer who’s written a manuscript that could prove disastrous to the political elite. What could be a routine thriller is, in Rasoulof’s hands, a searing document of the Iran government’s inhumane practices, with censorship, torture and murder used to enforce their whims. Rasoulof defied a 20-year filmmaking ban to create this daring and angry work, which features no credits for its cast or crew to protect them from retaliation by the state.