Kari Skogland has returned to familiar terrain for her first feature after Fifty Dead Men Walking – Miracle Pictures’ Prisoner of Tehran, a politically charged love story that plays out in a notorious Iranian prison. Skogland, kept busy lately directing TV series like The Listener and Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, will direct the picture based on Marina Nemat’s best-selling 2007 memoir of the same name.

Nemat, who today lives in Toronto, was in 1982 at age 16, imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison. She was forced to convert to Islam and marry a prison guard to escape execution. After her husband and captor was assassinated by a rival faction, Nemat eventually married her childhood sweetheart and emigrated to Canada in 1991.

Miracle’s Paul Brown optioned Nemat’s account of childhood faith and survival after it was brought to his attention by partner Claire Freeland.

‘The story resonated with me and Claire so much because of its true heartfelt struggle, and all [Nemat] went through and came through as a 16-year-old,’ Brown says.

Like Fifty Dead Men Walking, where Skogland captured the real-life story of a Belfast man recruited by the British police to spy on the IRA, Brown says Prisoner of Tehran will similarly portray individual survival against the backdrop of political conspiracy.

Skogland in October earned the Directors Guild of Canada’s best feature director trophy for Fifty Dead Men Walking.

Nemat has consulted with Skogland as the director completes the screenplay for Prisoner. Brown says Miracle has fielded interest from Canadian and international distributors, and could partner up with a British or French coproducer to fully finance the picture.

There is as yet no word on casting. Brown expects to shoot Prisoner of Tehran in Jordan or Israel.

Miracle’s last feature was the 2008 gay hockey drama Breakfast with Scot, which was released in Canada by Mongrel Media and stateside by Regent Releasing.