Son of the Mullah

Journalist Ruhollah Zam, like many of his Iranian colleagues, reports on the Islamic regime from abroad. Relying on tips from anonymous, unreliable and potentially compromised sources, he risks life and limb to support the struggle for human rights, democracy and freedom inside Iran by exposing the corruption, hypocrisy and money-laundering of its leadership from the outside. Filmmaker Nahid Persson follows Zam in this all-too-real spy thriller as he works tirelessly, under 24-hour protection in France, to publish sensitive news and expose the truth. But anyone could be a mole in his business, including fellow journalists, and if the regime “can catch you, they will kill you.” Zam’s paranoid, insular existence is brought about by the necessity for self-protection. The tension of his mistrust permeates Son of the Mullah—it feels as though anything and everything could be a lie, a conspiracy or a betrayal—which is precisely how the Iranian regime operates.