Desert One

DESERT ONE, directed by two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple (MISS SHARON JONES!, HARLAN COUNTY, USA) reveals the true story behind one of the most daring rescues in modern US history: a secret mission to free hostages captured during the 1979 Iranian revolution. It has been called “the most audacious, difficult, complicated, rescue mission ever attempted.” DESERT ONE uniquely blends emotion and bravado to tell the incredible tale of America’s secret mission to free the hostages of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Kopple discovers a wealth of unearthed archival sources and receives unprecedented access, engaging in intimate conversations with many of the soldiers closest to the story, some for the first time, as well as President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale and TV newsman Ted Koppel. Evocative new animation brings audiences closer than anyone has ever gotten to being on the inside for this history-making operation. At a moment when tensions once again rise between the governments of Iran and the U.S., old wounds remain painfully current for many on each side who detail their recollections in DESERT ONE — but talk of hope also emerges, that the lessons of the past might finally guide us to a better future.