Film screening: "Immigrant Stories: Iranian-Americans of Silicon Valley"

Stanford Iranian Studies Program

November 12, 2021

The film screening of Immigrant Stories: Iranian-Americans of Silicon Valley was followed by a conversation with the film's co-directors, Nima Naimi, Alireza Sanayei, and Julian Gigola.

About the documentary:

Iranian Americans have achieved remarkable success across all professional fields, with many recognized internationally for their outstanding contributions. This film tells the first-hand immigration stories of several Iranian-Americans, covering 3 generations and over a dozen personal stories, and how Iranian-Americans have become one of the most successful diasporas in the U.S.

About the co-directors:

Nima Naimi is a first generation Iranian-American film director born and raised in the San Francisco, Bay Area. He has studied film in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, receiving his BFA degree in Motion Picture Directing at Columbia College Hollywood. While in college he directed a music video for European pop-star Benny Cristovao, which was nominated for an MTV European Music Award in 2012. Nima moved back to San Francisco after college and began his own production company, Spirit Film Productions Inc., where he’s been creating video content and marketing ads for Silicon Valley startups for the past 9 years.

Alireza Sanayei, Co-Founder and director of Spirit Film Productions, studied animation in Iran. He started his career at the age 15 designing characters for IRIB2. He moved to San Francisco in 2013, and changed his major to film production. Alireza joined Nima and Julian to form Spirit Film Productions Inc. in 2017, where they began directing and producing “Immigrant Stories: Iranian-Americans of Silicon Valley,” a feature documentary about the life stories of 3 generations of Iranian-Americans. Under Spirit Film Productions, Ali has also made videos with several tech companies such as Pear VC, Google & Aurora Solar.

Julian Gigola started his videography career after immigrating to the United States at the age of 17. He pursued his passion for photography by making several music videos, advertisements and creating websites. Soon after he joined Nima and Ali to co-direct the feature documentary, “Immigrant Stories: Iranian-Americans of Silicon Valley.”