Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists. Donate today and help bring The Scream of the Butterfly to life.
 

Logline

In the midst of a brutal revolution, an Iranian woman taken to an otherworldly prison with only her dismembered eye as a method of sight transforms into a symbol of hope and resistance against a totalitarian regime in a harrowing journey of defiance.

Synopsis

When an Iranian woman, Parvaneh, finds safety in an abandoned hideaway amidst a brutal revolution, she is forced to cut out her own eye, shot by the police in an attempt to ‘blind the people.’ Totalitarian forces storm her hideaway, bag her head, and take her to a surreal, otherworldly prison where Parvaneh discovers her dismembered eye is a method of sight—her only method of sight. Upon her arrival, she finds solace in her prison mate, Narges. An older, mysterious woman, an oracle of sorts, Narges guides Parvaneh in finding her strength and utilizing her eyeball as a conduit of power after realizing Parvaneh is undergoing a peculiar transformation under the bag over her head. She does so by telling Parvaneh the story of the butterfly who carries screams… who carries the pain of others. Parvaneh navigates the desolate prison with Narges’ lessons and her dismembered eye until she fully morphs under her mask into the final symbol of hope and resistance.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Ariya Akhavan — Co-Writer/Director
Ariya Akhavan received an MA in Dramatic Arts from the world-renowned Central Saint Martins in London, England. Upon graduating, he was pulled into photography where he perfected art direction, storytelling within a frame, and painting with light. His work featuring actors such as Brenda Song, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Avan Jogia has made the covers of various magazines. Alongside his music video directorial work, in 2023 his narrative short Echoes of Silence received an honorable mention from AGBO’s No Sleep ‘Til Film Fest’ Competition. He is a 2025 Golden Script Competition winner, Nashville Film Festival Screenplay Competition Finalist, and Blue Cat Screenplay Competition Top 5 Finalist.

Anjini Taneja Azhar — Co-Writer/Producer
Anjini Taneja Azhar is a producer, screenwriter, and director based in Los Angeles. She began as an actor in 2011, with roles in films such as JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness and TV such as HBO’s The Brink. At her time on Star Trek, she was allowed to observe Mr. Abrams’ directing when she discovered her passion for filmmaking. Since then, she has written and directed multiple award-winning shorts and produced for Fortune 500 companies. Anjini has been featured for her work in Forbes, Women Cinemakers, and Ladygunn Magazine. Anjini’s 2022 narrative short, ‘EVERYWHERE YOU GO,’ screened in-competition at LA Shorts Int’l Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival. She’s a Golden Script Competition Winner, A Film Pipeline Top 4 Finalist, and Blue Cat Screenplat Competition Top 5 Finalist. and PAGE Awards Semifinalist. Her 2025 short film, ‘Who Are You, Nanu?’ (in partnership with British Airways) was the 2023 Shore Scripts Grand Jury Winner and Hollyshorts Screenplay Competition 2nd place winner.

Zar Amir Ebrahimi & Alambic Production — Executive Producer
Zar Amir Ebrahimi alongside her production company Alambic Production have boarded The Scream of the Butterfly as executive producer and production company. Ebrahimi won Best Actress at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for the Iranian film Holy Spider directed by Ali Abbasi, also submitted as Denmark’s entry for Best International Feature Film the 95th Academy Awards. She was the first Iranian actress to win the award at Cannes. Ebrahimi was also honoured as a breakthrough artist by the Golden Globes and listed as BBC’s 100 Women List in 2022 as ‘one of the world’s most inspiring and influential woman of the year.’ Alambic Production, founded in 2019, alongside Ms. Ebrahimi personally serve as executive producers for The Scream of the Butterfly to guide the film to fruition ahead of its 2026 production in London, England.

Carlos Creazzola — Director of Photographer
Carlos Creazzola is a Venezuelan American cinematographer born and raised in Miami, Florida. His work has taken him to over twenty countries. In 2016, Carlos lensed the narrative music video for Stephen’s Crossfire, which dealt with police slayings of unarmed Black men. Following this, Carlos has lensed projects like Enough with music by Sia; Dark Side of the Gym by the National, directed by Spielberg’s West Side Story choreographer Justin Peck; Vimeo Staff pick The Mystery of Now a documentary exploring Native American identity, released through National Geographic.

Christina Wen — Post-production sound supervisor
Christina Wen is a sound supervisor, recording/ mixing engineer, and technician from Beijing with dual degrees of Film Scoring and Music Production Engineering, and a minor in Video Game Scoring from Berklee College of Music. Her previous work includes several Disney Animation Video Games dialogue editing, award-winning video game series such as League of Legends, recording and mixing, as well as assistant engineering for award-winning engineers and producers/ composers at Abbey Road Studios. Christina’s most recent work as mix technician includes Amazon’s The Boys as well as Apple TV’s Lessons In Chemistry & Presumed Innocent starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Paramount Plus’ Mayor of Kingstown,’ and Stephen Williams’ Chevalier.’ Christina is honored to have celebrated the recent Oscar win for ‘American Fiction,’ in which she was on the post-production sound team.

Make a donation to The Scream of the Butterfly.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.