American director James Bertrand Longley is currently in Iran to make a documentary about the 10th Iranian presidential elections.

According to Mehr news agency, the 37-year-old Longley has already begun shooting various stages of the process.

The American documentary maker was arrested on Sunday while interviewing a young couple on a street in Tehran, near the Interior Ministry, but was released after Iranian officials were informed that his activities had received approval.

Longley has traveled to Tabriz, the holy city of Qom, and Qazvin in making his documentary.

The American director's production 'Iraq in Fragments' received three jury awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for a Documentary Feature.

His short film Sari's Mother premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and has been nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short.

Longley is the founder of Daylight Factory, a production company committed to creating documentary films about subjects with international appeal. He is also an active contributor to The D-Word, a worldwide online community of documentary filmmakers.

The June 12 election witnessed incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win 24.5 million votes -- nearly 62 percent. Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, garnered the second largest number of votes, 13.2 million, followed by Mohsen Rezaei with more than 630 thousand votes and Mehdi Karroubi with 320 thousand votes.

HRF/JG