Succession's Arian Moayed to Exec Produce Oscar Contender Motherland

Succession’s Arian Moayed to Exec Produce Oscar Contender Motherland

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What That Massive Crossover Means

Emmy and Tony-nominated actor Arian Moayed has signed on to executive produce Iranian-Canadian director Jasmin Mozaffari’s short film drama Motherland.

Moayed was born in Tehran, Iran, and immigrated with his family to the U.S. when he was 5 years old. He played Stewy Hosseini in HBO’s Succession and also has TV credits in Netflix’s Inventing Anna, HBO Max’s Love Life and Disney’s Ms. Marvel, in addition to a host of theatrical stage credits.

Moayed will help make a push for Oscar consideration for Motherland, which is set in 1979 during the Iranian hostage crisis. The short centers on Babak, played by Behtash Fazlali, who travels to meet the parents of his fiancé (Oriana Leman), only to discover the realities of an Iranian immigrant in post-Vietnam America.

“For many Iranians, living outside our motherland has become increasingly difficult as we continue to confront misinformation, racism and hatred,” Moayed said in a statement. “Motherland offers an intimate and raw portrayal of the Iranian experience in 1979, grappling with love and identity in the shadow of the revolution and the hostage crisis. Jasmin Mozaffari has crafted a powerful and stunning film that lays bare the pain and resilience of being ‘the other’ — an experience familiar to far too many. The reactions to this film have been incredibly affecting, and I am deeply honored to be part of it.”

The Oscar campaign will include screenings for Motherland in New York City and Los Angeles after the short earned qualifying awards that include best Canadian short film at the Toronto Film Festival, best drama at Aspen Shortsfest, and best live-action short drama and best performance in a live-action short at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Moayed earlier served as executive producer on two Oscar-contending short films: Liam LoPinto’s The Old Young Crow and Sierra Urich’s Joonam. Motherland also stars John Ralston, Niaz Salimi, Nima Gholamipour and Birgitte Solem.

The executive producer credits are shared by Taj Critchlow, Arsalan Asli, Amir Karimi, Dean Rosen and Fuliane Petikyan. Caitlin Grabham, Priscilla Galvez and Mozaffari are producing.