Coup 53 + director Q&A

BBFC RatingCoup 53 + director Q&A

Showing: 08 May 2026

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Fri 8 May 2026

Certificate15
Year2019
GenreDocumentary
Director(s)Taghi Amirani
Writer(s)Taghi Amirani, Walter Murch
LanguageEnglish, Persian, Italian, French
CountryUK, Iran
Running Time2HR
Extra InfoPartially subtitled in English
Season Main Programme

With Iran and the world once again on the brink, Coup 53 feels less like history and more like a warning.

In 1953, a military coup led by British MI6 backed by the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. His crime: nationalising the country's oil. The truth behind that original regime change for oil was buried for decades.

Iranian director Taghi Amirani spent ten years uncovering what really happened. Working with legendary editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The English Patient) and a gripping performance by Ralph Fiennes, the film unfolds like a John le Carré spy thriller — except every word is true.

Coup 53 exposes the roots of today's tensions with rare clarity and urgency. A documentary. A detective story. A reckoning.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Taghi Amirani.


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