Fountaineers

Iran-born Hedia is a New Yorker transplanted to Los Angeles by way of Tehran. Somewhere in between, she lived in France and Italy, which either expanded her world-view or culturally befuddled her.

Hedia's creative dabbling speaks to a storytelling drive, rampant since childhood when she put on plays in the backyard for her aunts and uncles in Iran. Her foray into film began as an actor, and with a do-it-yourself sensibility and subzero-budgets, in the last several years, Hedia wrote and directed over a dozen short films. Many of them have won awards or reached finalist levels in various competitions.

Priding herself on doing what she loves doesn't always translate into square meals, which works out because chewing can be time-consuming and she'd rather put the effort into creative endeavors. In addition to starving artist jokes, Hedia writes about her severe case of "chronic dichotomy" at gunmetalgeisha.com.

Hedia lives up to the ideal of an artistic cooperative, bringing together and collaborating with a community of like-minded artists. She is currently at work on a feature, and refuses to believe true independent filmmaking is a myth.