Coup 53 (15)

In 1953, a military coup led by British MI6 and backed by the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. His crime: nationalising the country's oil. The truth behind that original regime change was buried for decades.

Iranian director Taghi Amirani spent ten years uncovering what really happened. Aided by legendary film editor Walter Murch and a gripping performance by Ralph Fiennes, Amirani’s documentary Coup 53 unfolds like a John le Carré spy thriller.

Content guidance 
Coup 53 contains scenes of violence, racist language in archive clips, and images of real dead bodies. For more information, visit the BBFC. 

This event will begin at the advertised time with no ads or trailers. 

About the Horizons film programme 
The Horizons Festival 2026 Film Programme was produced, curated and facilitated by Nuala Shaar, Horizons Film Programme Producer, with the final screening lineup voted for by Ana Lucía Cuevas, Linnae Yllane, Maryam Nazari and Tina Ramos Ekongo. Read more about their collaborative process.

What the panel have to say: "What makes films like Coup 53 so important is their attempt to uncover hidden and often unspoken layers of history, encouraging audiences to question official narratives and look more critically at the relationship between media, politics and power. Too often, governments do not fully reveal the reality behind their actions. Instead, propaganda and carefully constructed narratives are used to justify intervention, destabilisation, war and the destruction of other nations. Through its investigative structure, archive material, editing, pacing and gradual revelations, Coup 53 unfolds like a political thriller, while remaining grounded in evidence. More than a film about a historical coup, it is a film about the engineering of truth itself." – Maryam Nazari, Horizons Panel Member