Nonprofit Production Banner Waterwell Doubles Funding for Unseen Iran Grants to Artists Representing the Diaspora in Film, TV, Theater and More
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- Waterwell and Nimruz doubled the Unseen Iran Grants pool to $100,000, expanding the second cycle to 10 artists working across disciplines on Iranian identity and cultural connectivity.
- Unseen Iran Grants will award each selected artist $5,000 to $20,000 based on project needs, with mentorship and six to 12 months to complete the work.
- The second grant cycle will accept applications through Sept. 30 through Nimruz’s website, with the 10 selected projects announced in December.
- Arian Moayed linked the program’s heightened urgency to crackdowns following last January’s protests and the war between the U.S., Israel and Iran, saying Iranian resilience and stories now matter more than ever.
- Sepanta Mohseni said nearly 500 inaugural-cycle submissions showed that extraordinary talent and need exceed even the newly expanded $100,000 fund.
- Pegah Ahangarani’s “Rehearsals for a Revolution” won this year’s Cannes Film Festival top documentary prize; Sony Pictures Classics picked it up for distribution, and Nimruz invested in the project.
Why it matters: Ten Iranian-diaspora artists gain $5,000-to-$20,000 awards, mentorship and six to 12 months to complete their projects, while their community gets a larger platform for stories about identity and connectivity. Yet applications still vastly outnumber the 10 available slots.
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