One of the biggest unknowns heading into awards season this year has been Jon Stewart’s directorial debut Rosewater, which will soon be premiering at festivals in both Telluride and Toronto. As you might expect from the host of The Daily Show, the movie does have a political angle to it, although aside from some touches of dark humour, it doesn’t appear to be all that funny. Early reviews have just hit the web and they appear to be positive, but not overwhelmingly so.

Gael Garcia Bernal plays Iranian-born Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was arrested and then tortured and interrogated for 118 days after sending footage of the Iranian election protests to the BBC. The movie has a personal connection for Stewart because Bahari’s appearance on The Daily Show was used by his captors as potential proof that he was a spy. Rosewater hits select theatres on Nov. 7th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.