Film/TV Show that has inspired your work:

Might be different tomorrow, but in this moment – Three Colors Trilogy, 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days, A Taste of Cherry, Nebraska

Dream Actor/Actress to work with:

Juliette Binoche 

The book everyone should read:

Self and World by Eli Siegel 

When you’re not creating you are:

Resting, in all its forms

Social cause you’re most passionate about:

economic inequality/class struggle

What does the Mission mean to you?

Family & Love 

Mohammad Gorjestani is an Iranian-American writer and director based in San Francisco, CA. His work focuses on the resilient narratives overlooked, unseen, or marginalized individuals and communities across documentary, dance, and narrative formats. In 2013, he was named as one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film for his near-future short, Refuge - which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and the SXSW Film Festival. He is also a 2x recipient of the SFFILM Kenneth Rainin Foundation (KRF) Filmmaking Grant for his first feature film currently in development. In 2015, Mohammad and producing partner, Malcolm Pullinger, started the Happy Birthday Project (produced by The Mission Entertainment) a series of short, intimate portraits of the mothers, family, and close friends of victims of recent police killings in the US. The series examines the aftermath of injustice on what would have been Oscar Grant’s 29th birthday, Philando Castile’s 33rd birthday, and Mario Wood’s 27th birthday. Most recently, Mohammad directed all 5 films in the “For Every Dream” series co-created by Even/Odd Films and Square, Inc. The series includes Sister Hearts which screened at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, won the 2018 Tribeca X Award, and earned a Bronze Lion in Entertainment at Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity. In 2019, the final film in the series Exit 12 won the Grand Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival and was acquired by Fox Searchlight. Mohammad's prolific work has earned 9 Vimeo Staff Picks, 4 Webby Awards, and has been featured by outlets including The Guardian, The Atlantic, and CNN.