Cannes: The Iranian dissident director Mohammad Rasoulof’s latest film Seed of the Sacred Fig got a rapturous 12 minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival premiere on Friday.

He received an eight year prison sentence for making this film, says Variety. Rasoulof risked his life by appearing at the film’s premiere as he fled Iran for Europe on May 13^th to avoid going to prison.

The only prominent member of the film’s star cast who was with Rasoulof on the red carpet was Golshifteh Farahani. There was undeniable applause as the credits of Rasoulof’s film began to roll (it is ‘Variety’ policy, though, to begin timing standing ovations once the house lights come up). Rasoulof got teary and waved enthusiastically to the balcony.

Ali Abbasi, director of fellow competition title ‘The Apprentice’, stood next to Rasoulof and encouraged the crowd to keep clapping not that they needed it, as their cheers just got louder and louder.

The ecstatic response to and political weight of ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ has cemented its status as a frontrunner for the festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or, according to ‘Variety’.

Iranian authorities had been pressuring him to pull ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ from Cannes and harassing the film’s producers and actors. In an interview with ‘Variety’ on Thursday, Rasoulof said that Golestani has been arrested by Iranian security services.