Mohammad Gorjestani and Jonny Mass have signed with their first production company, joining the live action directorial roster of bicoastal m ss ng p eces.
Gorjestani is an Iranian-American filmmaker who fled Tehran with his family during the Iran-Iraq War, setting in the Bay Area. His work often explores the immigrant experience and social justice issues, giving an authentic narrative across both independent and branded projects. He has directed spots and short films for brands including Airbnb, Square, Visa, and Pinterest. His short film for Square, Yassin Falafel, was a Tribeca X Award finalist earlier this year and three-time Webby Award winner; his “Love is Welcome Here” spot celebrating Pride Month for Airbnb was also honored with a Webby. Five of Gorjestani’s projects have been selected as Vimeo Staff Picks, he is a two-time San Francisco Film Society Grant winner, and his films Refuge and Miss Me: The Artful Vandal were SXSW Official Selections.
Mass, an accomplished action sports athlete, has already worked on more than 30 projects for brands including RED Digital Cinema and Ford. He began filmmaking as a young teenager at the skate park, where success through his YouTube channel led him to branded content opportunities early on. In 2016, RED Digital Cinema approached Mass to create a short film to launch its new HELIUM 8K sensor for the WEAPON. A self-taught jack-of-all-trades, Mass understands both the technology and creative techniques that deliver visceral and energetic stories.
“Mohammad captures these beautifully authentic stories of resiliency, which helps brands to forge more meaningful content that sets them apart and gives them a voice. Jonny is a very nimble, outside the box thinker with innate technical skills to push a story to new levels and make you experience action in a new way,” said Ari Kuschnir, founder and managing partner at m ss ng p eces. “They each bring a unique skillset to m ss ng p eces.”
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More