Iranian actresses Setareh Maleki and Mahsa Rostami, and director Mohammad Rasoulof, held portraits of their missing cast members at the Cannes film festival

Forced to flee Iran, dissident director Mohammad Rasoulof says it is bittersweet that his latest movie will contend at the Oscars -- under the banner of another country.

"The Seed of the Sacred Fig," a paranoid thriller that was shot in secret and depicts a family torn apart by Iran's brutally repressive politics, has earned rave reviews and won many festival prizes, including at Cannes.