<div><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>
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<div>Iran is my motherland. A beautiful country with a vast, rich history and culture, she is my mother. And if you're also Iranian, she is also your mother as well.
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<div><em>"Her soul was the spark that lit us up like a wildfire."</em>
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<div>You may or may not have heard that Iran is facing a revolution which sparked from the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September of this year. On a daily basis, women and children are constantly being killed or imprisoned for protesting for their basic human rights. Innocent kids even as young as 8 and 10 years old are being slaughtered daily. There are currently over 15,000 people who have been imprisoned and recommended the death penalty by Iranian parliament...and for all we know, they could be killed as soon as tomorrow.
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<div>And yet, the protests still continue to grow.
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<div>Unfortunately, western media isn’t really providing much coverage about what is happening in Iran. Thus, I'm creating this project to help spread more awareness, get people to continue the conversation, and add fuel to the fire. I want this video to really compensate for the lack of awareness from all media outlets since the majority of them are silent.
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<div><strong><em>Here's a quick video explanation of the project!</em></strong>
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<div><a href="https://vimeo.com/774513746" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://vimeo.com/774513746" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://vimeo.com/774513746</a></a>
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<div>Password: 321
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<div><strong>THE FILM:</strong>
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<div>"Lioness" is a 3.5-minute video broken into two parts: the audio poem and the visual.
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<div>The audio component is a spoken word poetry piece narrated by Iranian actress/activist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamnazaninnour/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nazanin Nour</a>, prolific Iranian singer <a href="https://www.instagram.com/samibeigis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sami Beigi</a>, and myself.
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<div>The video component showcases portraits of Iranian women expressing themselves in ways they cannot do in Iran due to Islamic laws. With a cast of 20 beautiful Iranian women, we'll create a narrative that starts off very emotional and somber, but transforms into something much more uplifting by the end. This video component stars Iranian actress <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamyasi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yasi Aker</a>, Iranian stuntwoman <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mahsaahmadiofficial/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mahsa Ahmadi</a>, attorney / activist <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@legalbaddie?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dellara</a>, amongst many other talented Iranian women.
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<div>This project is very unique hybrid, unlike any film or video I've ever created. It's kind-of a music video, kind-of a short film, kind-of a protest piece. A little bit of everything.
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<div><strong><em>TRAILER #1:</em></strong>
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<div><a href="https://vimeo.com/772704090" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://vimeo.com/772704090" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://vimeo.com/772704090</a></a>
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<div>password: 123
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<div><strong><em>TRAILER #2:</em></strong>
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<div><a href="https://vimeo.com/777586192" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://vimeo.com/777586192" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://vimeo.com/777586192</a></a> 
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<div>Password: 1203
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<div><strong>IS THAT AIRPLANE SCENE REAL?</strong>
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<div>Yes. We pulled off an incredible stunt in less than 48 hours. I'll just leave it at that ;)
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<div><strong>IS THE PROJECT DONE?</strong>
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<div>Almost! We've already finished filming and self-financed everything thus far. We had three days of filming, and are currently finishing post-production.
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<div><strong>WHEN WILL IT BE RELEASED?</strong>
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<div>December 7th, 2022
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<div><strong>HOW WILL THE MONEY BE USED?</strong>
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<div>The money will be used to recoup all the hard costs for the film. Although the majority of the crew were generous enough to donate their time for this project, there were some costs that were inevitable, including:
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<li>Location / studio rentals
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<li>Permits
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<li>Insurance
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<li>Equipment rentals
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<li>Stunts costs
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<li>Travel costs
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<li>Post-production
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<div>There is currently no plan to monetize or collect revenue from the video. We are solely using it to spread awareness.
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<div><strong>ABOUT ME:</strong>
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<div>I'm an Iranian-American director / writer with an extensive background in short-form film production. I've had the pleasure of working with some of the world's most esteemed music artists &amp; companies (see more of my work <a href="https://arradr.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HERE</a> ).
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<div><strong>TAX DEDUCTIBLE STATUS</strong>
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<div>I’ve teamed up on this project with nonprofit organization Uplift Capital who’s mission is to empower creatives and entrepreneurs from underprivileged communities. All contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by the law.
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Jennifer Wong

Anonymous

Koorosh Chahbazi

Nitany Oulai

Arash Rosta

Bobby Saadian

Neama Rahmani

Amir Fassihi

Keith Miller

Arash Sherbaf

Ava Ardalan

John Ardalan

Azargoon Family

Donna Rahgoshay

Lioness - A Film For the Women & People of Iran

Lioness - A Film For the Women & People of Iran

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