DESERT ONE Documentary Films

Talent attending: Barbara Kopple (Director)

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students, irate over President Jimmy Carter’s decision to grant asylum to the deposed Shah of Iran, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized over 60 American hostages. After months of failed negotiations with Iran’s new leader (the radical cleric Ayatollah Khomeini) and with his presidency increasingly consumed by the hostage crisis, Carter turned to the Army’s newly created elite Delta Force for a daring plan. The resulting secret mission would prove to be one of the most audacious and controversial in U.S. history.

Two-time Academy Award®-winning director Barbara Kopple brilliantly brings to life the Delta Force’s mission. Using previously unseen archival material and riveting interviews with all of the principals, including President Carter, Kopple paints an unforgettable portrait of American heroism — and its profound cost. –Ken Jacobson