COUP 53

Post-film Q&A with Director Taghi Amirani &  Walter Murch (also making his Keynote presentation of exclusive clips from the sequal COUP 53.1!), moderated by  podcaster & former radio host, Peter B. Collins! * 

“Both as a detective story and as a deep dive into a world event whose consequences linger, it is bracing, absorbing filmmaking”
– Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times.

With Iran never straying far from global headlines, this is an unmissable opportunity to see COUP 53 in the company of the filmmakers. The 1953 coup in Iran is THE origin story of decades of turmoil and Iran’s toxic relations with the West and in particular the U.S.  Ten years in the making, COUP 53 tells the story of the Anglo-American coup d’état that overthrew Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstalled the Shah.

“There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know”. – Harry Truman

While making a documentary about the CIA/MI6 coup in Iran, Iranian director Taghi Amirani and editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The English Patient) discover never seen before archive material hidden for decades. The 16mm footage and documents not only allow the filmmakers to tell the story of the overthrow of the Iranian government in unprecedented detail, but it also leads to explosive revelations about dark secrets that, until recently, had been buried for more that 67 years. Working with Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Schindler’s List, The English Patient) to help bring the lost material to life, what begins as a historical documentary about four days in August 1953 turns into a live investigation, taking the filmmakers into uncharted cinematic waters. The roots of Iran’s volatile relationship with America and Britain have never been so forensically and dramatically exposed. COUP 53 is a politically explosive and cinematically innovative documentary that puts the current crisis into critically vital context.

Directed by Taghi Amirani. Written by Taghi Amirani & Walter Murch. Produced by Paul Zaentz. Co-Produced by Amir Amirani & Ahmad Kiarostami. 2019. UK/Iran/US. In English, Persian, Italian, French with English subtitles. DCP. 120 mins

“The film’s editor is Walter Murch, who worked on “The Conversation” and “The Godfather: Part II” (both 1974)so there’s not much that he doesn’t know about conspiracy — how it leaks into a movie like the smell of drains.” – Anthony Lane, The New Yorker.

“Has the air of something that grew from an impudent home movie into a magnum opus.”  -Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter

“It has a bit of “All the President’s Men” about it” – Ian Freer, EMPIRE

“Simply great storytelling, full stop.” – Anne Hornaday, Washington Post

“This is big. This is going to be big.” –  Werner Herzog

” One of the best documentaries of recent years.” – Michael Moore

“Extraordinary.” – Errol Morris

*Peter B. Collins, retired San Francisco radio host, was heard on KRQR-FM, KNBR, KSFO and KGO. A pioneer on Sirius satellite radio, he also had a podcast from 2009-2021. He covered many of America’s regime change operations over the years, but didn’t learn the full story of Iran’s until he saw Coup 53.