Taghi Amirani
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Taghi Amirani is an
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian-born English
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
and
documentary filmmaker A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
who lives in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. He has worked primarily in television, prior to the release of the film documentary
Coup 53 ''Coup 53'' is a 2019 British documentary about the 1953 Iranian coup d'état to overthrow Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, co-written and directed by Taghi Amirani and co-written and edited by Walter Murch. Production The film, direct ...
in 2019.


Early life and education

Taghi Amirani grew up in
Pahlavi Iran The Imperial State of Iran ( fa, کشور شاهنشاهی ایران, ), also known as the Imperial State of Persia, was the official name of the Iranian state under the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty. It was formed in 1925 and lasted until 197 ...
. In 1975 he moved to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
to attend school. He went on to study physics at the
University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
. His final year project at University of Nottingham was ''Shades of Black'', a documentary about the experience of entering a
black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
. He took a postgraduate film and television course at the
University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...
, where he made ''Mechanics of Love'', a black-and-white silent comedy film.Taghi Amirani; We Are Many


Career


Early television work

His first job after leaving the University of Bristol was at
Thames TV Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...
, where he worked as a researcher on documentaries. In 1989 he made his debut as a producer and director with an episode of Channel 4's ''Equinox'' series entitled "Earth Calling Basingstoke". He went on to make several dozen 36 full-length films, in addition to a number of short films and commercials. In addition to ''Equinox'', he has written, directed, and/or produced episodes of the series ''True Stories'', ''He Play'', ''Q.E.D.'', ''Short Stories'', ''Auction'', ''The Jupiter Collision'', ''Holy Places'', ''Encounters'', ''Picture This'', ''Edinburgh or Bust'', ''Correspondent'', ''War on Iraq'', ''This Time Next Year'', and ''Wide Angle''. He also made the six-part series ''Mad about Machines'', about the relationship between people and their machines. He was field producer and cinematographer for the 2003 TV documentary ''Inside Mecca'', a
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
production that followed three pilgrims to
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
from different parts of the world.


''The Dispossessed''

After the
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
began its invasion of
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in November 2001, Amirani went to that country and interviewed ordinary Afghans at a
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
-run refugee camp. The result was ''The Dispossessed'', which was aired in January 2002 as an episode of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
series ''Correspondent''. When criticized for showing some scenes of suffering, he said in his defense that “we have a choice of switching off to other people's suffering and getting on with our lives or getting involved and seeing what our governments are doing in our name. It is our job to convey that information – to bring the suffering of these people who are caught between many evils. They were oppressed by the Taliban, before that they were invaded by the
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
ns, they've gone through years of war and now they are being bombed by the Americans.”


''Red Lines and Deadlines''

Amirani has explained that since he was not in Iran during the 1979 revolution, he “always felt I had missed the first-hand experience of an important chapter in my country’s history. Instead, from my adopted home in England, I watched the revolution and the ensuing 26 years unfold on TV.” Over the years he came to feel that “what I was watching were developments in my homeland interpreted through the prism of mainly Western journalists and filmmakers. It was time to stop watching the stream of stereotype and customary clichés from the outside, and go find out for myself.” In 2004 he went to Iran “to look for stories” and saw a copy of ''Shargh'', a reformist newspaper. He ended up writing, producing, directing, and photographing a 2004 documentary, ''Red Lines and Deadlines'', about the staff of the newspaper and its reformist politics. It was first aired on
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
as part of the series ''Wide Angle''. The ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' described the film as “an unprecedented look into the
Orwellian "Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by pro ...
world of Iranian journalism.”


''Coup 53''

He wrote, produced, directed, and photographed the documentary ''
Coup 53 ''Coup 53'' is a 2019 British documentary about the 1953 Iranian coup d'état to overthrow Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, co-written and directed by Taghi Amirani and co-written and edited by Walter Murch. Production The film, direct ...
'', which was released in 2019. The film recounts
Operation Ajax Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
, the 1953 coup in Iran engineered by the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
and
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
to overthrow the Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. He visited the
National Security Archive The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy. The Nat ...
at
George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...
in order to make a portion of the film. This film was co-produced by Ahmad Kiarostami and co-written and edited by
Walter Murch Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. With a career stretching back to 1969, including work on ''THX 1138'', ''Apocalypse Now'', '' The Godfather I'', '' II'', and '' III'', ''Ame ...
.


Other professional activities

Taghi Amirani has served as a jury member at the International
Emmys The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
,
Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
, One World Media Awards, and
Sheffield International Documentary Festival Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The Festival includes film sc ...
. He was awarded a TED Fellowship in 2009, and the next year received a TED Senior Fellowship in 2010. In a 2014
TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
Talk he spoke about the importance of “embracing uncertainty.”


Personal life

Amirani lives in London. He ran the
New York Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...
in 2006 and 2010.


References


External links

*
coup53.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amirani, Taghi Iranian documentary filmmakers Investigative journalists Iranian physicists British people of Iranian descent