Azadeh Nikzadeh

Filmmaker| Ēr Wehdēn Mazdēsn | The Deviants - mythic thriller 🎥
2026 Sundance Sloan Fellowship (Round 2) | Making an impossible film in public on YouTube

[Azadeh Nikzadeh @AzadehNikzadeh]

Happy International Women’s Day! I will speak at the @UN_CSW panel by @sethemfreetr about the plight of Iranian women and the importance of storytelling to create solidarity. Register here  https://t.co/G24ScEbGlG

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Located in Shiraz, Iran, the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, is a dazzling wonderland of rich hues, geometric patterns, and light that play on the ceiling (here shown a detail) and floor of the mosque.

[Maria 🪏 @MariaLopatkova]

I'm hiring a FS Product Engineer for an NYC startup.

The role: the first engineer hire outside the founding team. Work directly with the founders - no layers, no PMs, no tickets handed down. You'll see your code running in real sales calls the same week you build it.

The stack: 3-4+ years with TypeScript/JavaScript backend skills (Node.​js,​ Next.​js,​ APIs). Hands-​on LLM application development (agents,​ tool use,​ prompt engineering).

Build the AI voice agents that run live B2B sales calls, from backend services to browser-use demos.

NYC 4 days in office. $150-320k + equity. US citizen or green card holders only.

Just closed a $2M pre-seed backed by founders of Ramp, Kalshi, and JumpCloud. The founding team are serial entrepreneurs who already sold their first company.

DM me if you're interested.

[nejat.bahrami نجات بهرامی @nejatbahrami]

طلبکارشدن چپ‌ها و تجزیه‌طلب‌ها را می‌بینید؟ بی‌اخلاق‌ترین موجودات عالمند! می‌خواهند با استفاده مداوم از خون مهسا در واقع خون دهها هزار عزیز دیگر را پایمال‌کنند.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇮🇷 Women in Tehran could face legal action for running a race without a hijab.

After a race in Velayat Park, a provincial sports official said participants had pledged to follow compulsory dress rules, with organizers and security personnel stationed along the route to enforce them.

Some women were reportedly stopped from participating, while others could now face disciplinary action.

Even a run can come with legal consequences for women who defy Iran’s dress code.

Writer: Lynn

[nejat.bahrami نجات بهرامی @nejatbahrami]

پدر مهسا امینی پرچم بخشی از کشور عراق را در کنار عکس دخترش استوری کرده، در حالی که به خونخواهی مهسا صدها دسته‌گل از همه جای ایران پرپر شدند. این جماعت همین‌قدر بی‌صفت و اوباشند!
هر شخص و جریان و رسانه‌ای که با تمامیت ایران بازی کند و تجزیه‌طلب را تبلیغ‌کند، مانند تفاله دور ریخته خواهدشد. ملتی که فقط چند ماه پیش چهل‌پنجاه هزار جگرگوشه خود را برای اعتلای ایران از دست داده، چشمانش باز است و با کسی تعارف ندارد.

#ابتذال_قومگرایی

[Aseel Swaid @aseelswaid9]

The beauty of Iranian architecture

©️ Aseel Swaid

[Maria 🪏 @MariaLopatkova]

Booking a demo is a tax. You want the product on your time, not a tour on theirs.

Just watched an AI voice agent run a live B2B sales call. You talk over it. Ask the real question. It jumps to the product. No pitch. No getting "qualified."

Pre-seed. NYC. First Product Engineer (FS).

The job: make that conversation survive an impatient buyer. Voice, interruptions, driving the real product mid-sentence.

Very good problem.

3-4+ years TS / Node / Next / Postgres
Huge plus if you’ve done AI voice
4 days onsite NYC
Up to $230k + equity
USC or GC only

DM me if you want in!

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Nestled at the base of Mount Sahand in Iran, Kandovan is a 700-year-old village renowned for its extraordinary inhabited homes known as karaan.

These multi-level cave dwellings are carved straight into natural volcanic tuff cones, resembling beehives.

[Azadeh Nikzadeh @AzadehNikzadeh]

A mentor told me my script was "very good" seven times. Then she told me Americans wouldn’t watch it.
Yesterday, I sat across from someone who has shaped some of the most significant television made in America over the last two decades. I had prepared for weeks—rehearsing answers for every objection, every hard question.
She didn't ask any of them.
She loved the script. She loved the ancient language woven through it. She told me, more than once, that I’m a good writer.
Then came the pivot: The setting was the problem.
Tehran, she said, wouldn't get Americans out of their homes. Cut the historical roots. Make it safer to finance.
I’ve been sitting with the gap between those two reactions ever since.
Hollywood has told stories set in unfamiliar places before, and audiences showed up:
Parasite—subtitled, hyper-specific to Korean class dynamics—won Best Picture.
Schindler’s List—set in the exact geography of the Holocaust—won seven Academy Awards.
Shōgun—told almost entirely in Japanese and Portuguese—swept the Emmys.
The barrier isn't the setting. It’s the execution, and how universal the stakes feel underneath the specificity. Power, resistance, survival, identity—these aren't "Iranian themes." They’re human ones. They just happen to be set in Tehran.
There is a version of my film where I erase that specificity to make it safer. And there’s the version I’m actually making—the one that keeps the truth that makes it matter.
Authenticity and commercial viability aren't opposites. The industry just tells us they are, more often for some stories than others.
If you’re a writer, filmmaker, or creator navigating this exact tension, I’d love to hear how you handle it.
I’m documenting the entire journey of building THE DEVIANTS in public—the rejections, the financing, and the creative decisions.
Watch the full Episode 1 breakdown on YouTube below 🧵👇
https://t.co/eE6b40wFRg
#Filmmaking #Screenwriting #IndieFilm #Representation #Storytelling

[Azadeh Nikzadeh @AzadehNikzadeh]

A mentor told me my script was "very good" seven times. Then she told me Americans wouldn’t watch it.
Yesterday, I sat across from someone who has shaped some of the most significant television made in America over the last two decades. I had prepared for weeks—rehearsing answers for every objection, every hard question.
She didn't ask any of them.
She loved the script. She loved the ancient language woven through it. She told me, more than once, that I’m a good writer.
Then came the pivot: The setting was the problem.
Tehran, she said, wouldn't get Americans out of their homes. Cut the historical roots. Make it safer to finance.
I’ve been sitting with the gap between those two reactions ever since.
Hollywood has told stories set in unfamiliar places before, and audiences showed up:
Parasite—subtitled, hyper-specific to Korean class dynamics—won Best Picture.
Schindler’s List—set in the exact geography of the Holocaust—won seven Academy Awards.
Shōgun—told almost entirely in Japanese and Portuguese—swept the Emmys.
The barrier isn't the setting. It’s the execution, and how universal the stakes feel underneath the specificity. Power, resistance, survival, identity—these aren't "Iranian themes." They’re human ones. They just happen to be set in Tehran.
There is a version of my film where I erase that specificity to make it safer. And there’s the version I’m actually making—the one that keeps the truth that makes it matter.
Authenticity and commercial viability aren't opposites. The industry just tells us they are, more often for some stories than others.
If you’re a writer, filmmaker, or creator navigating this exact tension, I’d love to hear how you handle it.
I’m documenting the entire journey of building THE DEVIANTS in public—the rejections, the financing, and the creative decisions.
Watch the full Episode 1 breakdown on YouTube below 🧵👇
https://t.co/eE6b40wFRg
#Filmmaking #Screenwriting #IndieFilm #Representation #Storytelling

[The Hollywood Reporter @THR]

The government is urging a federal judge to force a dozen states led by California to bear the costs of the holdup caused by their lawsuits challenging the $111 billion megamerger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. https://t.co/ThnUVBazPC

[فلات ایران @IranianPlateau]

جای بسی شگفتی است؛ اعرابی که چهارده قرن پیش، سوار بر اسب‌های فتح به مرزهای ایرانِ کهن لشکر کشیدند، اسلام را در پهنه فلات ایران گستردند و ایرانیان را متأثر از آن هجوم تاریخی به کیش خویش درآوردند، امروز چگونه در نبرد با حوثی‌های یمن این‌گونه ناتوان و زمین‌گیر شده‌اند؟

[Savakzadeh @Savakzadeh]

🚨 According to local reports, the Islamic Republic in Iran has finalized a deal with Russia 🇷🇺 and China 🇨🇳 selling 110 hectares of surrounding land of Persepolis; a UNESCO World Heritage site with more than 2500 years of history.

They are planning to build various centers and shops in order to make money, which they are running out of.

The Iranians who live in the area have said they will do their best to stop this, but they will need help from everyone.

[independentpersian @indypersian]

در پی انتشار اخباری درباره تلاش شهرداری مرودشت برای اجرای برنامه توسعه شهری در شرق حریم تخت‌جمشید، سهیل دلشاد، تاریخ‌شناس و پژوهشگر خط میخی، نسبت به پیامدهای این اقدام برای آثار باقی‌مانده از شهر باستانی پارسه هشدار داد.
دلشاد روز دوشنبه ۲۳ شهریورماه با انتشاری تصاویری از نقشه حریم شرقی تخت جمشید در شبکه اجتماعی ایکس نوشت: «توسعه شهری مرودشت در حریم تخت‌جمشید آخرین میخ است بر تابوت شهر پارسه است.»
این فعال فرهنگی با اشاره به ساختار شهر باستانی پارسه نوشت: «صفه تخت‌جمشید در حقیقت شرقی‌ترین بخش این شهر بزرگ است و در جای‌جای غرب صفه تا پس از کمربندی مرودشت، آثار باقی‌مانده از این شهر بزرگ هخامنشی وجود دارد.»
این تاریخ‌شناس همچنین به دروازه کشف‌شده در محوطه تل آجری به عنوان یکی از شناخته‌شده‌ترین آثار باقی‌مانده از شهر پارسه اشاره کرد.
محمدجواد جعفری، سرپرست پایگاه میراث جهانی تخت‌جمشید، پیش‌تر در گفتگو با ایرنا اعلام کرده بود حریم درجه ۲ تخت‌جمشید علاوه بر حفاظت از منظر این اثر جهانی، بیش از ۱۱۰ اثر تاریخی دیگر را در دشت مرودشت دربرمی‌گیرد و هرگونه توسعه شهری در این محدوده می‌تواند بر حفاظت از این آثار تاثیر بگذارد.
جعفری گفته بود شهرداری مرودشت برای توسعه شهری در حریم تخت‌جمشید با یک مشاور قرارداد بسته و در حال طراحی و تعیین محدوده است، در حالی که پیش‌تر به شهرداری ابلاغ شده بود امکان گسترش شهری در این منطقه وجود ندارد.

[Variety @Variety]

Vimeo Doubles Short Film Grant Program Prize to $300,000 (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/Hz7LoF7C2E

[Maria 🪏 @MariaLopatkova]

I’ve got a search open at an AI-native company, with reach across the whole team.

I need someone already in the weeds with agents. You build them. You work with them every day. You have a point of view every time a new model drops.

Just as important: you are the person your team already goes to. Not because you run trainings. Because you want the team to win, and you will sit down, hear someone out, and help them work better with agents. Everyone knows they can bounce an idea off you, and you take that opportunity every time.

You help people actually work, ship, and get unstuck with agents, then turn that into how the whole company operates.

👉 NYC. 5 days onsite. Up to $300K base.

If this is you, DM me and let’s talk.

[فلات ایران @IranianPlateau]

به داد تخت جمشید برسیم!

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇮🇷 Iran just handed a DEATH SENTENCE to a 33-year-old Instagram influencer for insulting the supreme leader and sharing a photo of airstrike damage.

Marzieh “Sevda” Ebrahimi Shamsabadi is currently sitting in Bandar Abbas prison.

The Revolutionary Court convicted her of “spreading corruption on Earth,” propaganda against national security, and sending a distant photo of a missile-hit site to a Persian outlet abroad.

Before she was seized, she managed to post one last note to her 10,000 followers. Sevda said if she left this world, she had chosen the path she believed in.

She suffers from multiple sclerosis and other illnesses. Rights groups say her health is failing in the cell...

Source: Daily Mail / Writer: Samuel

[Elnaz.Diman @ElnazDiman]

خودتون احساس شرم نمی‌کنید؟! فیلم رو بدون #حجاب_اجباری میسازید و به ادعای خودتون بدون مجوز میفرستید فستیوال‌های خارجی اما رو فرش قرمز یه لچک میندازید رو سرتون که باز هم بتونید فیلم با حجاب و بدون حجاب بازی کنید!

وقتی هم میگن پروژه‌اید بهتون بر میخوره!

#محسن_قرایی
#لاله_مرزبان

[Zartosht.Setude.Official @ZartoshtSetude]

آزر یا آزر
آزربایگان یا اذربایگان

چه میخوانید؟ ز ذ ظ ض

#زبانشناسی #زرتشت_ستود