Were we excited to get the call asking us to work on Jon Stewart’s new movie? OMG, you have no idea! As you might imagine, it was an absolute delight for BFD’s Creative Director, Randy Balsmeyer, to work with Jon to bring his vision to the big screen.

Rosewater is based on the best-selling memoir by Maziar Bahari “Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival.” The film marks the directorial debut of “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, and stars Gael García Bernal.

Rosewater tells the story of Bahari, an Iranian-born journalist with Canadian citizenship. In 2009, Bahari returned to Iran to cover the sham re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As the challenger’s supporters protested Ahmadinejad’s victory declaration hours before the polls closed, Bahari, at great risk, sent footage of the street riots to the BBC. Bahari was arrested and over the next 118 days he was tortured and interrogated by a man identifying himself as “Rosewater.” With Bahari’s wife leading an international campaign to have her husband freed, and media outlets keeping the story alive, Iranian authorities released Bahari with the promise that he would act as a spy for the government.

The design of the main titles was inspired by the messages Bahari scratched into his prison walls. We hope you get a chance to see this amazing film.

For more info, check out the following links:

Read today’s NY Times review here

Watch the trailer here

Read New York Magazine’s conversation with Jon here

See Christiane Amanpour’s interview with Jon here

Read the New York Daily News review here

Check out Rolling Stone’s article here