Project M

The story of a female revolutionary, fighting against one of the world’s most misogynistic regimes. We follow our protagonist, an exiled Iranian activist, as she builds a global coalition against Iran’s ruling Mullahs whilst trying to escape their deadly wrath.

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SARA NODJOUMI is an independent filmmaker raised by Iranian émigré artists in New York City. Recent credits include the HBO Original Documentary A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS (2023), her directing debut (co-directed with Till Schauder) that premiered at Tribeca and won several awards including the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Brizzolara Foundation Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution. Previous producing credits include WHEN GOD SLEEPS (2017), which premiered at Tribeca, played over 100 festivals worldwide, had its broadcast premiere on Independent Lens, and won numerous international awards before being shortlisted for the 2018 Academy Award in Germany; THE IRAN JOB (2012), also shortlisted for a German Academy Award and released worldwide on Netflix, and REGGAE BOYZ (2019), which won the Audience Award at Brooklyn Film Festival and screened in digital theatres across America. Sara is an alum of the Sundance Creative Producers Summit and the IFP Cannes Producers Network Fellowship. She was awarded the Inaugural Brown Girls Documentary Mafia Sustainable Artist Grant for A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS.

TILL SCHAUDER has directed and photographed several award-winning films that have premiered and won awards at major film festivals around the world including Tribeca, Berlin, Tokyo, and are funded through grants and co-productions with partners like HBO, the Sundance Documentary Institute, Fork Films, The Catapult Film Fund, The Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, Film und Medienstiftung NRW, FFA/German Federal Film Board, ITVS, ARD, ZDF, and many others. Documentary credits include THE IRAN JOB (2012), an Oscar contender and shortlisted for a German Academy Award; WHEN GOD SLEEPS (2017), Independent Lens, Most Valuable Documentary at Cinema For Peace Berlinale and shortlisted for a German Academy Award; WARRIORS OF FAITH (2017), a German Television Academy Award Winner and nominee for the Prix Europa; and REGGAE BOYZ (2018), a German Television Academy Award nominee co-produced with ARTE France. His latest film A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS (2023), codirected and co-produced with Sara Nodjoumi, is an HBO Original about his father-in-law, controversial Iranian artist Nicky Nodjoumi, that premiered at Tribeca, won several awards including the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Brizzolara Foundation Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution and made several critics lists for Best Films of the Year 2023.

With over 20 years of industry experience, award-winning producer KAT MANSOOR has worked with the likes of BBC Film, Film 4, Netflix and distributors around the world to consistently deliver a slate of highly acclaimed films. Kat’s work has been shown at festivals such as Cannes, Telluride, SXSW and IDFA. Her film credits include double Grierson-winning HERE’S JOHNNY, THE MAN WHOSE MIND EXPLODED, LOST AND SOUND, WHAT WE BELIEVE and IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING. Kat’s most recent releases include BAFTA nominated COW by Academy-Award winning Director Andrea Arnold and BAFTA-nominated REBELLION. Kat’s current productions include RE-EVALUATION (Film4), MOLLY VS THE MACHINES (Screen Scotland, Luminate), FIRESTARTERS (Cinereach), NO PLACE LIKE HOME (Screen Ireland/BFI), BJORK: CORNUCOPIA LIVE, FATHER FATHER (Bertha) and an untitled series with A24.

LIDSAY UTZ has worked on some of the most high-profile documentaries of the last decade, including editing the 2020 Academy Award-winning documentary AMERICAN FACTORY. Her other credits include the Oscar shortlisted BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY (2021), TAYLOR SWIFT: MISS AMERICANA (2020), and QUEST (2018), a ten-year vérité portrait of a Black Philadelphia family which was nominated for both Emmy and Peabody Awards. Last year she worked as a consulting editor on Sara and Till’s latest film for HBO A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS. In 2023 she was a producer on the first documentary for Ben Affleck’s company Artists Equity, which premiered on Amazon Prime in February 2024. She is currently directing an unannounced film about a high profile female politician with Gigi Pritzker’s production company Madison Wells. Her work has screened at top festivals around the world, and has been included in prestigious archives such as the MoMA film library and The Criterion Collection. She is a member of the Documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and American Cinema Editors (ACE).

ODESSA RAE is a Canadian born, American film producer and actor, known for producing the documentary NAVALNY which premiered at Sundance (2022) where it won “Best of Fest” and “Audience Award. It then went on to win the Best Documentary Feature at the 95th Academy Awards and a BAFTA for Best Documentary. Rae was key in the formation of Ivanhoe Pictures, which produced the box office hit, CRAZY RICH ASIANS Since finishing her multiyear First-Look deal at Ivanhoe Pictures in early 2019, Rae has been producing independently. Odessa's films have been shown at festivals around the world and have received multiple honours including PGA, Dupont, Greirson, Cinema Eye and Critics' Choice awards. Odessa is the recipient of the 2023 UN Sustainable Goals Impact Through Film award. In 2021, Rae launched RaeFilm Studios, focusing on the development and production of non-fiction content.