Hero Ken Taylor and others shed exciting new insight on the Canadian Caper in OUR MAN IN TEHRAN
OUR MAN IN TEHRAN (Drew Taylor & Larry Weinstein, 2014)
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
Opens Friday, May 15
212-924-3363
www.cinemavillage.com
firstrunfeatures.com
In 1979, Iranian protestors took fifty-four American embassy personnel hostage. However, six diplomats managed to escape, secretly protected by Canadian embassy official John Sheardown and Ambassador Ken Taylor. Producer-directors Drew Taylor (no relation to Ken) and Larry Weinstein take viewers behind the scenes of what became known as the Canadian Caper in Our Man in Tehran, the real tale that lay behind Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning thriller, Argo. Based on Robert Wright’s 2011 book Our Man in Tehran, which boasts the rather lengthy and explanatory subtitle The True Story Behind the Secret Mission to Save Six Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis & the Foreign Ambassador Who Worked w/the CIA to Bring Them Home, the documentary combines archival footage of the Shah of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, President Jimmy Carter, and Iranian protests along with new interviews with the heroic and engaging Ken Taylor and his wife, Pat (who were played by Victor Garber and Page Leong in Argo), the soft-spoken former CIA operative Tony Mendez (who was portrayed by Affleck), foreign correspondent Joe Schlesinger, Canadian embassy worker Roger Lucy, historian Mohamad Tavakoli, CBC journalist Carole Jerome, hostages Kathleen Stafford, Mark Lijek, Cora Amburn-Lijek, and Bob Anders, U.S. National Security adviser Gary Sick, Canadian prime minister Joe Clark, Zena Sheardown (wife of the late Joe Sheardown), and others, providing fresh insight and fascinating details about the capture and eventual escape. Even though you know what happens in the end, it’s still exciting to hear the story all over again, and it’s especially fun watching Ken Taylor, who has a wry sense of humor and fantastic curly white hair. Our Man in Tehran opens May 15 at Cinema Village, with Ken and Pat Taylor, Drew Taylor, and former Canadian ambassador to Iran Elena Semikina on hand for a Q&A following the 9:10 screening Friday night.