An award-winning Iranian director, whose film is showing at the Cannes Film Festival, has fled Iran, only days after being sentenced to eight years in prison on national security charges.

According to The Iran Project, Mohammad Rasoulof, whose film Seed of the Sacred Fig is being considered for the highest prize at Cannes in France, said he had fled Iran overland as his passport had been seized in 2017.

His trial and conviction was seen by many as politically motivated.