Comedy icon and Daily Show host Jon Stewart shocked fans when he took a three-month hiatus from the show in the summer of 2013. Stewart spent that time in the Mideast, working on a film that traces the story of Maziar Bahari, a London-based journalist who was detained by Iranian authorities for more than 100 days for his work covering Iran’s 2009 presidential election.
Bahari was working for Newsweek Magazine at the time, but now edits and publishes IranWire, which partners with The Daily Beast. The site, published in Persian and English, seeks to empower Iranian citizen journalists by creating a forum in which young Iranians inside and outside of their country can discuss national and local news, learn the ethics of reporting, and work closely with professionals.
Stewart’s screenwriting and directorial debut, Rosewater, is starting to make the festival rounds, and the first pulse-racing trailer went up today.
