.jpg "Iranian producer Jamal Sadatian (R) and his advisor Ebrahim Asgharzadeh attend a press conference to discuss their project on the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Iran in 1979, in Tehran on January 22, 2014. (Mehr/Javad Hadi)")
TEHRAN -- Iranian producer Jamal Sadatian said that his film project on the Iranian occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 will be “a blockbuster”.
“Sixty-six foreign actors – as many as the U.S. hostages held in Iran – will be hired for the project,” he said in a press conference on Wednesday.
He added that the project will be produced “independently by the private sector.”
Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, an Iranian political activist and politician who was among the group of revolutionary Iranian students that took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran, is acting as an advisor for the project.
Asgharzadeh said that the film will be “a logical review of contemporary history.”
“The film will also examine the mistakes of the students, of which I was one,” he added.
He added that the occupation of the U.S. embassy will never be reviewed as a flawless event.
Sadatian previously denied that the project is supposed to be a response to Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage drama “Argo”, which was officially viewed as an ‘anti-Iranian’ film after it premiered in the U.S. in October 2012.
“In this moderate atmosphere now dominating Iran’s foreign relations, I hope this film will help public opinion in Iran and that the world will be enlightened about this event,” Sadatian stated at the press conference.
“All doors were closed to dialogue among the politicians in the former administration, but under (president) Hassan Rouhani it seems dialogue can be accomplished more easily. Thus we selected this period in which to produce the film,” he added.
So far, no title has been selected for the project.
The premiere of “Argo” stirred cries of outrage from Iranian executives in 2012.
Iran’s Art Bureau announced in January 2013 that it planned to produce a movie entitled “The General Staff” in response to “Argo”.
In addition, former officials of the Iran Cinema Organization (ICO) hired renowned French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre in March to file a lawsuit against the producer and director of “Argo”, which they claimed promotes Iranophobia.
However, the new director of the ICO said on September 2013 that there is no contract between his organization and Coutant-Peyre and that the organization would never pursue the lawsuit.
MMS/YAW
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