TEHRAN -- Once again, Iranian director Mohammad Shirvani has spotlighted the occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by Iranian students on November 4, 1979 by making a movie about the events.

Shirvani previously made “444 Days”, a documentary focusing on U.S. diplomats John W. Limbert and Lowell Bruce Laingen, who were detained at the embassy, dubbed the “Den of Spies” by Imam Khomeini.
“The episode was an important occasion in the history of political relations between the U.S. and Iran, but we have neglected to portray it in our cinema,” Shirvani told the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.
“However, they (the U.S.) have not remained silent. They have produced films and even written books about the issue. These works taken together have presented a biased view of events which has led to a misunderstanding on the part of the U.S. people regarding Iranians,” he added.
“Relations between the U.S. and Iran have been influenced by this event for about 30 years. Thus, I realized that a feature-length film of a world standard would be able to portray the event from various angles, thereby resulting in the reduction of the degree of misunderstanding between the two nations,” he explained.
The project is scheduled to be undertaken in the near future both in the United States and in Iran by a professional crew from the two countries.
“The film will cover the 444-day crisis of the White House under Jimmy Carter and the capture of the U.S. embassy in Tehran,” Shirvani said.
However, the screenplay has not been completed even after three years’ research on the project.
Due to the theme of the film, which has yet to be named, Shirvani wants the project to be financed by the governmental sector. However, he said, “The assistance should not be such as to lead to the intervention of an outside organization as this would result in spoiling the independent and humanitarian nature of the film.”
Shirvani said that his movie “444 Days” will assist him in the production of this feature-length film. Iran’s newly established international news channel, Press TV, is scheduled to air the documentary in four episodes commencing on November 4.
Shirvani is an old hand at making political-themed films. He has previously directed “President Mir Qanbar”, a documentary on Mir Qanbar Heidari, a 75-year-old retired civil servant from a remote part of Iran’s Azarbaijan region, who ran for presidency of the Islamic Republic