The 1953 Anglo-American coup d’état, which overthrew Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh‘s government, reinstalling the Shah, is the subject of director Taghi Amirani‘s documentary, Coup 53. With Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) as British MI6 operative Norman Darbyshire, who led the coup, the film delves into the events of those momentous five days, but also reveals secrets that had been hidden for nearly seven decades.
Check out the trailer and an official synopsis below. After playing festivals in 2019 and 2020, the critically acclaimed documentary is available to stream on the film’s official website.
While making a documentary about the 1953 CIA/MI6 coup in Iran, 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 also lead to explosive revelations about dark secrets buried for 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 began as a history 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 has never been so forensically and dramatically exposed.
