Usually found cracking wise and dishing out snark about American politics from behind his desk at The Daily Show, Jon Stewart took a sabbatical last summer to film his directorial debut, Rosewater, which he adapted from Maziar Bahari’s best-selling memoir. The trailer for the film is now online courtesy of Apple.
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Bahari, a Tehran-born journalist who has settled outside of his home country, gotten married and is eagerly awaiting the birth of his first child. In June 2009, he accepts an assignment to return to Iran and interview Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the challenger to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the upcoming elections.
With vote rigging rife and protests rising against the corrupt regime, Bahari is initially hesitant to get involved, but shoots footage of street rioting for the BBC. He’s arrested and spends 118 days being interrogated and tortured by a man who identifies himself as “Rosewater”.
As Bahari’s wife and the international media lead a campaign to secure his freedom, he’s offered the chance for release on bail if he promises to spy for the government…
Rosewater is set for release in the US on November 7, but doesn’t yet have a UK date.