NOORA NIASARI (she/her) Writer/Director/Producer
Tehran-born, Australia raised filmmaker Noora Niasari is the Co-Founder of Parandeh Pictures. A graduate of architecture and cinema, her debut feature film, SHAYDA starring Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Cannes Best Actress Winner for 'Holy Spider') and Executive Produced by Cate Blanchett - premiered in the World Dramatic Competition of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award and was sold to Sony Pictures Classics.
SHAYDA was the Opening Night Gala Film of the 71st Melbourne International Film Festival, the Closing night film of the 76th Locarno Film Festival, Official Selection at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival, 28th Busan International Film Festival, 67th BFI London Film Festival, Young Talent Award recipient at the 31st Filmfest Hamburg and winner of CinefestOZ, Australia’s richest film prize.
SHAYDA was Australia’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. Noora was awarded Best Direction in a Feature Film at the 2023 Australian Directors’ Guild (ADG) Awards and was nominated for the Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film at the 76th Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards. She is represented by UTA.
KEIRAN WATSON-BONNICE (he/him) Writer/Director/Producer
Keiran grew up in the United States to Australian parents. A love of film led him to work as a cinematographer in San Francisco, multi-camera array operator in LA, and film editor in New York City before returning to Melbourne to pursue directing.
In 2015, his narrative short CARAVAN premiered at Clermont-Ferrand, played at over 30 international festivals and was selected for the MIFF Accelerator Lab. In 2019, he wrote and directed AND THEN SOMETHING CHANGED, a TV special for ABC Me. A MIPCOM diversity award winner, it has been used in the public school system in Australia and abroad.
Filming has begun on his debut feature, an observational documentary about the World Dwarf Games.