(PCM) John Stewart’s compelling drama tells the story of a journalist who is detained in Iran for more than 100 days and brutally interrogated in prison; Rosewater opens in select theaters November 14, 2014.
Rosewater is based on The New York Times best-selling memoir Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival, written by Maziar Bahari with Aimee Molloy.
The film marks the directorial debut of “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, and stars Gael García Bernal. Rosewater follows the Tehran-born Bahari, a broadcast journalist with Canadian citizenship.
In June 2009, Bahari returned to Iran to interview Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who was the prime challenger to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As Mousavi’s supporters rose up to protest Ahmadinejad’s victory declaration hours before the polls closed, Bahari endured personal risk by sending footage of the street riots to the BBC.
Bahari was arrested by police, led by a man identifying himself only as “Rosewater,” who tortured and interrogated him over the next 118 days.
With Bahari’s wife leading an international campaign to have her husband freed, and Western media outlets keeping the story alive, Iranian authorities released Bahari on $300,000 bail and the promise he would act as a spy for the government.
Written and directed by first time director John Stewart, Rosewater stars Gael Garcia Bernal (The Science of Sleep, The Motorcycle Diaries), Kim Bodnia (Pusher, In China They Eat Dogs), Haluk Bilginer (Winter Sleep, The International), Shohreh Aghdashloo (X-Men: The Last Stand, The Stoning of Soraya M.), Golshifteh Farahani (Body of Lies, About Elly), and Jason Jones (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Pitch Perfect).
John Stewart’s directorial debut is receiving positive reviews so far; the film currently has a fresh rating of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes. Scott Foundas of Variety called Rosewater “a solid, powerfully acted political drama about human endurance in the face of ideological oppression” and James Rocchi of Film.com wrote “Rosewater marks the debut of a director whose brains and guts are the equal or the better of his eye and heart …”
Watch the trailer for Rosewater below and visit the film’s official Facebook for more info!
Rosewater opens in select theaters starting November 14, 2014.
The post John Stewart Makes Directorial Debut in ‘Rosewater’ also appeared on PCM Reviews.