TAKEN HOSTAGE

Coming soon to American Experience on PBS
Robert Stone's TAKEN HOSTAGE

Unfolding like a political thriller, TAKEN HOSTAGE tells the story of the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 American diplomats, Marines and civilians were held hostage at the American Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. For the next 444 days, the world watched as the United States received a daily barrage of humiliation, vitriol and hatred from a country that had long been one of our closest allies. Told through the candid, personal testimony of those whose lives were upended by the action, the crisis would transform both the U.S. and Iran and forever upend the focus and direction of American foreign policy. Presented in two parts, Part 1, airing on November 14, chronicles the 25 year dictatorship of the Shah, the CIA coup that installed him, and the revolution that overthrew his regime in 1979. Part 2, airing on November 15, covers the hostage crisis and its devolution into a media frenzy that laid the groundwork for today’s 24 hour news cycle, upended Carter’s presidency and transformed the politics of the Middle East in ways that reverberate to the present day. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE TRAILER


”Post-production for Taken Hostage was done almost entirely in the Hudson Valley,” says Stone. “Our production office is based in Rhinecliff. Much of the editing and all of the mastering was done here, in-house. Color correction and on-line was done by Chad Smith at Massive Clouds in Kingston. Sound editing and mix were done by Coll Anderson and his team at CA Sound in Bearsville. It’s a team I’ve been working with for over a decade and the production values we achieve be keeping it local are second to none. Given the current uprising in Iran that is bordering on outright revolution, this film could not be more timely.”

Photo by Roger Tully

BIO: Multi-tasking as a producer, director, writer, editor and cameraman, Stone has over the last 35 years developed an esteemed international reputation for his unique and critically acclaimed feature-documentaries about American history, pop-culture, the mass media and the environment.

Robert Stone is an Oscar® nominee for Best Feature Documentary, a three-time Emmy-nominee for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and a winner of the 2020 Columbia duPont Award for Best Documentary, among many other awards and accolades for his work over three decades, which includes "Chasing the Moon," "Pandora’s Promise," "Earth Days," "Oswald's Ghost," "Hollywood Vietnam," "Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst," "Radio Bikini."

Stone continues to create personally-crafted documentary films from his home in the Hudson Valley of New York, where he lives with his wife, Shelby Stone, a film and television producer, and his two sons.

TAKEN HOSTAGE premieres November 14 on PBS.
A preview and discussion with Barry Rosen, Barbara Rosen and Robert Stone will take place on November 7. For details, visit Taken Hostage: Film Preview & Discussion at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.