On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian student demonstrators broke into the sprawling compound of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of embassy staff hostage. Their occupation made a dramatic intervention in Iran’s ongoing revolution against an American-backed monarchy. Although they only planned a 48-hour protest, the takeover turned into a media spectacle that also captured the remaining 444 days of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Hostages is a new four-part documentary about the Iran-U.S. relationship during this tumultuous period, featuring perspectives from both Iranians and Americans directly involved in the Iran Hostage Crisis.
1979 was a watershed year in the history of Iran and the broader Iranian diaspora; as Iranians are currently mobilizing in protests sparked by the killing of Mahsa Amini, the legacies of 1979 are again thrown into sharp relief.
Shahruz Ghaemi '19, associate archival producer, will introduce and screen a selection from the documentary. Shahruz graduated from Amherst with a major in history and a background in film and media Studies. He is a freelance producer working in the field of historical documentaries, currently based in Seattle.
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