This film was released on Friday 8th May 2015 and is no longer screening. 

Although best known as the confrontational presenter of the satirical The Daily Show, Jon Stewart’s first film is a restrained and sensitive drama recounting the 118-day ordeal of journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal), arrested as a spy while reporting for Newsweek on the contentious 2009 Iranian presidential elections. Once imprisoned, Bahari is ruthlessly interrogated on a daily basis by a man he identifies only by his scent, who attempts to force from him a confession of his role as a part of a generic conspiracy against Iran and its people.

As a defence against the psychological stresses of his situation, Bahari conducts imaginary conversations with his father and sister (Golshifteh Farahani, in a canny piece of casting), both of whom had suffered under previous regimes. Claustrophobic and intense, though not without moments of humour, Rosewater is a fine debut. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)

Don’t forget we now schedule weekly.

★★★★ The Guardian