Online promo flyer with graphics from Cognito
Who: Author Stephen Kinzer, Grand Theft Auto Director Navid Khonsari, Newscaster Amy Goodman, Emmy-nominated Mike de Seve, Columbia University Chair of Iran Studies Hamid Dabashi
Where: 2 West 64th St. & Central Park West, NYC, (New York Society for Ethical Culture)
When: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 7 p.m.
CONTACT: Natalia Mount, Natalia@mountrehbein.com (315) 440-5036
New York, NY, Jan. 12, 2011 – This January 20 marks the 30th anniversary of the end of the Iran Hostage Crisis, when students and militants imprisoned 52 Americans in Tehran for 444 days. The event will occur two days before the anniversary, on Tuesday, Jan. 18th at the Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St. at 7:30 pm.
To commemorate the 1981 event, New York Times veteran and best-selling author Stephen Kinzer (All the Shah's Men) joins Amy Goodman and Columbia's Dr. Hamid Dabashi (Chair, Iranian Studies) to re-examine this historic incident, and discuss its impact on current events.
Contributing: Media and tech pioneer Daniel Burwen, founder of Cognito Comics and publisher of Operation Ajax (an interactive iPad app about the crisis' roots); Emmy-nominated Ajax author Mike de Seve; and eBook innovator Harold Moss of FlickerLab. They'll present breakthrough ways history can be brought to new audiences in today's wired world.
Also presenting will be Navid Khonsari, director of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, who will announce his multi-player game, “1979 – Revolution,” in which several players can take roles as Iranian revolutionaries, students, hostages and U.S. soldiers.
Among the panel questions:
– How would modern technology, wikis and social networking have altered the hostage crisis?
– What if secret 1953 CIA coup plans had been leaked in 1978 instead of recently?
– Will new “weapons of mass instruction” including WikiLeaks and iPads aid or harm the causes of peace and democracy?
– How will popularizing the history of Iran and America's relations alter them in the future?
As an example of breakthrough technologies used to re-examine the era, Kinzer, Burwen and de Seve will unveil Operation Ajax, their new iPad collaboration. Operation Ajax is an innovative “motion graphic novel” that uses cinematic, multi-touch and gaming techniques to teach about the roots of the crisis — and is a source for several leaked CIA documents about Iran, its overthrow, and BP's complicity.
Stephen Kinzer notes: “It's been fifteen years since, during a reporting trip to Iran, I decided to write a book about how the CIA overthrew Iran's Prime Minister in 1953. That's why I was so thrilled when a group of digital visionaries approached me about producing an interactive iPad app about the coup.”
“FlickerLab is setting new standards for ebooks and digital art, which are truly the news and education tools of the future. We're excited to be part of this panel with progressive journalists and media makers,” says Harold Moss, FlickerLab's Creative Director.
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Event sponsor, Cognito Comics produces graphic novels that address a wide range of research-rich topics inaccessible in print media. Visit www.cognitocomics.com. Follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cognitocomics
For more information about Cognito Comics:
Katie Edmonds
(415) 271-8660
info@cognitocomics.com
Additional contacts:
Mike de Seve (646) 221-4142 mikedeseve@yahoo.com
Stephen Kinzer (708) 386-1495 skinzer@bu.edu
Harold Moss (212) 560-9228 harold@flickerlab.com
