The Daily Show host Jon Stewart debuts his first feature at Telluride this upcoming week, but the first look at his film is available now for those without festival passes. Rosewater chronicles the real-life story of a journalist detained in Iran for more than 100 days and brutally interrogated in prison. Gael Garcia Bernal plays Maziar Bahari, the BBC journalist who was held as a prisoner by the Iranian government in 2009.
Oddly enough, Stewart was involved in the story before he stepped in as a writer/director. Bahari’s time as a prisoner began in 2009, when interrogators cited a ‘Daily Show’ interview that Bahari participated in as evidence of his connection to Western spies. The Daily Show covered Bahari’s story and had him appear on the show after he was released from prison. Afterward, Stewart picked up the rights to Bahari’s book and wrote/directed the feature himself.
Variety‘s Scott Foundas enjoyed the film saying “Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ hiatus yields a solid, powerfully acted political drama about human endurance in the face of ideological oppression.”
Rosewater hits theatres November 7th.
