Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh
UCLA Film & Television Archive and Farhang Foundation are pleased to present filmmaker Taghi Amirani’s groundbreaking new documentary Coup 53 as part of the Virtual Screening Room. Coup 53 will be available for streaming through our unique link beginning August 19, 2020 at 6 p.m. for $12. A portion of your purchase will support the Archive’s public programs. Admission also includes an exclusive Q&A with actor Ralph Fiennes and filmmakers Taghi Amirani and Walter Murch, which will be available on August 20.
Archive Members receive a $3 discount—if you’re not a Member, you can join online today!
Coup 53 (2019)
In August 1953, the democratically elected government of Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown in a coup that changed forever the course of history in Iran and shook international relations around the globe. Director Taghi Amirani and Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch bring archival footage, eyewitness accounts and reenactments together to reveal the secret history of that fateful four-day event with riveting suspense and a renewed sense of urgency. Declassified reports and long-suppressed interviews shed new light on the planning of the coup, including the heavy involvement of U.S. and British intelligence services. Moreover, Amirani makes the case that the perceived success of the operation by those services at the time established the disastrous template for an interventionist foreign policy that continues to this day.
Color, in English and Persian with English subtitles, 122 min. Director: Taghi Amirani. Screenwriter: Taghi Amirani, Walter Murch. Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Murch, Amirani.