Once Upon a Time in Persia
London, United Kingdom | Film Short
Romance, Animation
During a brief encounter in London, two Iranian women divulge a shared dream of their past life romance set in Persia centuries ago. Our film touches on the phenomenon of past life romances through the lens of Iranian women and Persian culture through genre bending.
Once Upon a Time in Persia
London, United Kingdom | Film Short
Romance, Animation
1 Campaigns |
41 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$10,104
Goal: $12,500 for production
During a brief encounter in London, two Iranian women divulge a shared dream of their past life romance set in Persia centuries ago. Our film touches on the phenomenon of past life romances through the lens of Iranian women and Persian culture through genre bending.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
In ONCE UPON A TIME IN PERSIA, Ava, an Iranian-American writer and actress, dreams of a past life in the valleys of Central Asia. In her dreams, she falls in love with a noble horse maiden who teaches her the way of the sword. On a business trip to London, she encounters Afsaneh, a British-Iranian actress with the same face as the woman of her dreams. Afsaneh smiles as she too has had the same dreams as Ava. Later that night, they recount their epic dreams and love story with each other. Yet the more they divulge their shared dreams, the more they realize that their ancient love story ends in a fatal tragedy... the premonitions of which haunt a potential future together.
Once Upon A Time In Persia draws from the rich, poetic, and romantic Persian tradition and history to talk about a hidden romance between two women’s past lives in a brief encounter, exploring a hidden love foretold in their dreams. The film combines the flairs and swords of samurai films, the natural imagery of Princess Mononoke, and the intimacy of Portrait of A Lady On Fire. Through a blend of Super 8mm imagery, frame by frame traditional animation, and classical Persian music, Ava and Afsaneh’s love story ignites a blend of oral and visual storytelling with rich colors, stolen glances, and fantastic allegory.
We are shooting our film at the end of November in London! Our funds will go directly towards the production of our shoot and the post production process of animating on celluloid. Costs of 16mm and 8mm film are expensive, but they go a long way for creating the hazy and romantic feeling we're capturing in Once Upon A Time in Persia!
We're a group of youthful, ambitious, and passionate Iranian diaspora artists and new industry-leaders that believe in the power of telling our stories with unabashed authenticity, paired with the audacity to do so all the while with a sense of fun, poetry, and experimentation to push the needle of what our films can be.
This project is the embodiment of everything we want to see in the future from our generation of diaspora artists and creatives, and we plan for this short film to be a showcase for our grandest, most epic dreams — and memories. For this, we need our community to behind us. Our storytelling and cinema has been confined to a box in recent years. People see Iranians, and the SWANA community at large, through a particular lens. It will take a village to redefine our stories, and to seize back control of our narrative.
We don't just deserve stories of hard-hitting, intense, emotionally-draining realism.
We believe that we deserve stories of awe — of wonder — stories of magic, and fantasy, odes to our grand past, and to our grander futures.
We deserve the right to dream, to dive deep into our pasts. To uncover our ancestors' memories — to retell them, and redefine them.
It takes a village. Always had, and always will. Thank you to each and every one of you for considering a contribution of any size to our campaign. Each little bit will go a long way.
We can't wait to share the film with you all. It's only onward & upward from here.
THANK YOU!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Super 16mm Camera Rental + Kodak Film
Costs $2,500
In order to shoot some of the romantic interiors, we require the use of Super 16 Kodak film for its quiet motor and romantic aesthetic.
Super 8 Kodak Film
Costs $1,000
We're looking to grab 20 rolls of Kodak film to do our live-action and animated segments!
Mighty Super 8!
Costs $2,000
One Canon Super 8mm Kodak Camera with service from Du-All Camera in New Jersey! A necessity for production and post!
Music Rights for Googoosh song
Costs $2,000
Music rights of the famous Googoosh song, Ay Khorshid, for our film.
Share this update!
About This Team
LIAM LOPINTO / WRITER-DIRECTOR-CINEMATOGRAPHER-LEAD ANIMATOR
Liam LoPinto is an award winning Iranian American filmmaker and animator from New York City. A student and graduate of NYU's Film and Television, CalArts Character Animation, and Tokyo's Waseda University's SILS program between 2013 and 2021. His film French Fly was selected for CAA Moebius' 5th Showcase, while his award winning short documentary Karam Camera was made in partnership with Karam Foundation focusing on empowering young Syrian refugees. His debut film out of school, The Old Young Crow, won more than 70 awards including an OSCAR® qualifying Best of Festival award at Palm Springs International ShortFest in addition to being an Official Selection of SXSW Sydney, Cairo, AFI, Oberhausen, Stockholm, Vimeo Staff Picks, Omeleto, and Short Of The Week. He also works as an Assistant Manager at The Moviehouse in Millerton, New York where he contributes to special programming and screenings.
SHAMS MOHAJERANI / PRODUCER
Shams Mohajerani is a Manager/Producer at 75East, a global management & production company focused on representing the most exciting filmmakers from the SWANA (South West Asia & North Africa) region and diaspora. An Iranian-American raised in Boston, Shams graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A in Film & Media Culture and Arabic Studies and previously worked as Manager of Sales & Acquisitions at Cairo-based agency MAD Solutions. He has participated as a jury and selection committee member at festivals such as Palm Springs ShortFest and META Film Fest, and is based between Dubai and the US.
NEJIB KTHIRI / PRODUCER
Nejib Kthiri is a Tunisian filmmaker and musician based in London. After studying music and sound engineering at West London University in 2011, he transitioned into filmmaking. His latest short film, TRINOU has been making waves in the film festival circuit, earning nominations for Best Short Film at the BAFTA-qualifying DOCUFEST, the prestigious Cairo International Film Festival, and the British Society of Cinematographers Awards. TRINOU has also been selected for renowned film festivals such as the LA Shorts International Film Festival, Show Me Shorts Film Festival in New Zealand, and the Cinequest International Film Festival in San Jose. The film has won awards at the Avanca Film Festival in Portugal, Amman International Film Festival, Rotterdam Arab Film Festival, and more. Kthiri is actively developing his debut feature film, TKALLEM, which won the grand prize for the developing award in CineMED from the CNC and a development award in MID from the Royal Film Commission. He has finished shooting his upcoming short film, NOW ENDLESSLY AND ALWAYS, starring Max Pemberton and Sarah Beck Mather.
AFSANEH DEHROUYEH / LEAD ACTRESS AND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Afsaneh Dehrouyeh is an award-winning British-Iranian actress, best known for starring as Laili in the BAFTA-nominated and Oscar-shortlisted Yellow, Samira in Our Kind of Love and the key role of Mahdiya Kattan in Season 3 of Fox 21's Tyrant, from Homeland creator Gideon Raff. She was nominated for Best Actress by Underwire Film Festival for her performance in Our Kind of Love, along with making the BAFTA long list, dominating festivals including Aesthetica and LSFF, and has over 3 million views on Omeleto. She can also be seen alongside Mark Rylance in Phantom of the Open.
AVA LALEZARZADEH / LEAD ACTRESS AND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Ava Lalezarzadeh is an actor and writer from Southern California. She stars in the AppleTV+ Limited Series "Before" as a Series Regular (Cleo) opposite Billy Crystal. Worldwide release on October 25th. In 2025, Ava is set to make her Broadway debut in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play English by Sanaz Toossi (Roundabout). She brings back the role of Goli which she originated in the Off-Broadway production of English (Atlantic). The production also received an Obie Award and Lucille Lortel award for Best Play. Lalezarzadeh both wrote and starred in the award winning and Oscar Qualified short In the Garden of Tulips in consideration for “Best Live Action Short Film.” Tulips is a poignant meditation juxtaposing loss and hope. Inspired by Ava’s mother’s coming of age story, the film follows 16-year-old Caroline and her father along their final drive to the Iranian Countryside at the height of the Iran-Iraq War. The full-length feature by the same name is in development. Some of Ava’s additional credits include: The Morning Show (Apple TV+), Wild Life (HBO MAX), New Amsterdam (NBC), and Big Mouth (Netflix). Ava resides in New York City and travels to LA often.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
In ONCE UPON A TIME IN PERSIA, Ava, an Iranian-American writer and actress, dreams of a past life in the valleys of Central Asia. In her dreams, she falls in love with a noble horse maiden who teaches her the way of the sword. On a business trip to London, she encounters Afsaneh, a British-Iranian actress with the same face as the woman of her dreams. Afsaneh smiles as she too has had the same dreams as Ava. Later that night, they recount their epic dreams and love story with each other. Yet the more they divulge their shared dreams, the more they realize that their ancient love story ends in a fatal tragedy... the premonitions of which haunt a potential future together.
Once Upon A Time In Persia draws from the rich, poetic, and romantic Persian tradition and history to talk about a hidden romance between two women’s past lives in a brief encounter, exploring a hidden love foretold in their dreams. The film combines the flairs and swords of samurai films, the natural imagery of Princess Mononoke, and the intimacy of Portrait of A Lady On Fire. Through a blend of Super 8mm imagery, frame by frame traditional animation, and classical Persian music, Ava and Afsaneh’s love story ignites a blend of oral and visual storytelling with rich colors, stolen glances, and fantastic allegory.
We are shooting our film at the end of November in London! Our funds will go directly towards the production of our shoot and the post production process of animating on celluloid. Costs of 16mm and 8mm film are expensive, but they go a long way for creating the hazy and romantic feeling we're capturing in Once Upon A Time in Persia!
We're a group of youthful, ambitious, and passionate Iranian diaspora artists and new industry-leaders that believe in the power of telling our stories with unabashed authenticity, paired with the audacity to do so all the while with a sense of fun, poetry, and experimentation to push the needle of what our films can be.
This project is the embodiment of everything we want to see in the future from our generation of diaspora artists and creatives, and we plan for this short film to be a showcase for our grandest, most epic dreams — and memories. For this, we need our community to behind us. Our storytelling and cinema has been confined to a box in recent years. People see Iranians, and the SWANA community at large, through a particular lens. It will take a village to redefine our stories, and to seize back control of our narrative.
We don't just deserve stories of hard-hitting, intense, emotionally-draining realism.
We believe that we deserve stories of awe — of wonder — stories of magic, and fantasy, odes to our grand past, and to our grander futures.
We deserve the right to dream, to dive deep into our pasts. To uncover our ancestors' memories — to retell them, and redefine them.
It takes a village. Always had, and always will. Thank you to each and every one of you for considering a contribution of any size to our campaign. Each little bit will go a long way.
We can't wait to share the film with you all. It's only onward & upward from here.
THANK YOU!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Super 16mm Camera Rental + Kodak Film
Costs $2,500
In order to shoot some of the romantic interiors, we require the use of Super 16 Kodak film for its quiet motor and romantic aesthetic.
Super 8 Kodak Film
Costs $1,000
We're looking to grab 20 rolls of Kodak film to do our live-action and animated segments!
Mighty Super 8!
Costs $2,000
One Canon Super 8mm Kodak Camera with service from Du-All Camera in New Jersey! A necessity for production and post!
Music Rights for Googoosh song
Costs $2,000
Music rights of the famous Googoosh song, Ay Khorshid, for our film.
Share this update!
About This Team
LIAM LOPINTO / WRITER-DIRECTOR-CINEMATOGRAPHER-LEAD ANIMATOR
Liam LoPinto is an award winning Iranian American filmmaker and animator from New York City. A student and graduate of NYU's Film and Television, CalArts Character Animation, and Tokyo's Waseda University's SILS program between 2013 and 2021. His film French Fly was selected for CAA Moebius' 5th Showcase, while his award winning short documentary Karam Camera was made in partnership with Karam Foundation focusing on empowering young Syrian refugees. His debut film out of school, The Old Young Crow, won more than 70 awards including an OSCAR® qualifying Best of Festival award at Palm Springs International ShortFest in addition to being an Official Selection of SXSW Sydney, Cairo, AFI, Oberhausen, Stockholm, Vimeo Staff Picks, Omeleto, and Short Of The Week. He also works as an Assistant Manager at The Moviehouse in Millerton, New York where he contributes to special programming and screenings.
SHAMS MOHAJERANI / PRODUCER
Shams Mohajerani is a Manager/Producer at 75East, a global management & production company focused on representing the most exciting filmmakers from the SWANA (South West Asia & North Africa) region and diaspora. An Iranian-American raised in Boston, Shams graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A in Film & Media Culture and Arabic Studies and previously worked as Manager of Sales & Acquisitions at Cairo-based agency MAD Solutions. He has participated as a jury and selection committee member at festivals such as Palm Springs ShortFest and META Film Fest, and is based between Dubai and the US.
NEJIB KTHIRI / PRODUCER
Nejib Kthiri is a Tunisian filmmaker and musician based in London. After studying music and sound engineering at West London University in 2011, he transitioned into filmmaking. His latest short film, TRINOU has been making waves in the film festival circuit, earning nominations for Best Short Film at the BAFTA-qualifying DOCUFEST, the prestigious Cairo International Film Festival, and the British Society of Cinematographers Awards. TRINOU has also been selected for renowned film festivals such as the LA Shorts International Film Festival, Show Me Shorts Film Festival in New Zealand, and the Cinequest International Film Festival in San Jose. The film has won awards at the Avanca Film Festival in Portugal, Amman International Film Festival, Rotterdam Arab Film Festival, and more. Kthiri is actively developing his debut feature film, TKALLEM, which won the grand prize for the developing award in CineMED from the CNC and a development award in MID from the Royal Film Commission. He has finished shooting his upcoming short film, NOW ENDLESSLY AND ALWAYS, starring Max Pemberton and Sarah Beck Mather.
AFSANEH DEHROUYEH / LEAD ACTRESS AND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Afsaneh Dehrouyeh is an award-winning British-Iranian actress, best known for starring as Laili in the BAFTA-nominated and Oscar-shortlisted Yellow, Samira in Our Kind of Love and the key role of Mahdiya Kattan in Season 3 of Fox 21's Tyrant, from Homeland creator Gideon Raff. She was nominated for Best Actress by Underwire Film Festival for her performance in Our Kind of Love, along with making the BAFTA long list, dominating festivals including Aesthetica and LSFF, and has over 3 million views on Omeleto. She can also be seen alongside Mark Rylance in Phantom of the Open.
AVA LALEZARZADEH / LEAD ACTRESS AND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Ava Lalezarzadeh is an actor and writer from Southern California. She stars in the AppleTV+ Limited Series "Before" as a Series Regular (Cleo) opposite Billy Crystal. Worldwide release on October 25th. In 2025, Ava is set to make her Broadway debut in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play English by Sanaz Toossi (Roundabout). She brings back the role of Goli which she originated in the Off-Broadway production of English (Atlantic). The production also received an Obie Award and Lucille Lortel award for Best Play. Lalezarzadeh both wrote and starred in the award winning and Oscar Qualified short In the Garden of Tulips in consideration for “Best Live Action Short Film.” Tulips is a poignant meditation juxtaposing loss and hope. Inspired by Ava’s mother’s coming of age story, the film follows 16-year-old Caroline and her father along their final drive to the Iranian Countryside at the height of the Iran-Iraq War. The full-length feature by the same name is in development. Some of Ava’s additional credits include: The Morning Show (Apple TV+), Wild Life (HBO MAX), New Amsterdam (NBC), and Big Mouth (Netflix). Ava resides in New York City and travels to LA often.