“Rosewater” starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Haluk Bilginer, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Golshifteh Farahani and Claire Foy hit theaters today. The film mark’s Jon Stewart’s directorial debut and he also wrote the screenplay.
The film follows the Tehran-born Bahari, a 42-year-old broadcast journalist with Canadian citizenship living in London. In June 2009, Bahari returned to Iran to interview Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who was the prime challenger to controversial incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As Mousavi’s supporters rose up to protest Ahmadinejad’s victory declaration hours before the polls closed on election day, Bahari endured great personal risk by submitting camera footage of the unfolding street riots to the BBC. Bahari was soon arrested by Revolutionary Guard police, led by a man identifying himself only as “Rosewater,” who proceeded to torture and interrogate the journalist over the next 118 days.
http://youtu.be/1jpAVB1JuMc
We spoke with the subject of the film Maziar Bahari on the red carpet:
What has this process meant to you? To have a movie made about such an experience of your life?
It is part of the healing process, that started in prison. Because I promised myself in the interrogation room and solitary confinement that I was going to talk about what happened to me. I knew that if I was not going to talk about what had happened to me, I was going to be more traumatized.
What was it like watching Gael?
I think Gael is an amazing actor. He’s one…been one of my favorites for a while. He’s an emotionally intelligent actor. He can convey so many layers of emotions through his eyes. And he’s also a very political person. He is not one of those actors who doesn’t know where Iran is on a map. He is a documentary filmmaker, went to festivals. Really well versed on what’s happening in the world.
What was like having him portray your experience?
I just really admired him because he’s such a great actor.
Jason Jones
You did the original interview with Maziar. What did that interview mean to you at that point, and what does it mean now?
It was another interview at the time … he’s a really well spoken journalist, and will do a funny bit. And then really because of what happened, it became so much more. So much more. He really helped us out, set up five or six interviews for us. And I can’t say enough great things about him … and it hurt my heart when I found out what had happened to him. We wished him the best, and hoped that some of the horrible stories that were coming out of that prison were not happening to him.
-Talia Edelheit