the one-pager

Logline: Spending night after night analyzing gruesome CCTV footage, Officer Mansoor must now turn to the darkest corners of his psyche to unravel his toughest case yet.

Synopsis: Born into a life of crime and poverty, a refugee slum kid turned cop working the crime-ridden streets of Rottenham always wanted to be one of the good guys. A glimmer of hope in a desolate city of the damned. But things aren't so simple. 

Mansoor works tirelessly under the thumb of a corrupt system perpetuated by a toxic, hear no evil, see no evil police culture. Even the longest wick runs short in time.

Mayor Montgomery is up for re-election and has been ramping up his law and order rhetoric in his latest radio interview. Mansoor changes the station as he cuts through skid row on the way to his graveyard shift. 'Same old story’, he whispers to himself at the red light. ‘Something’s gotta give’.

Every night, his bigoted but good-natured supervisor, Sargent Wilburn tasks him with analyzing and indexing gruesome CCTV footage of muggings, murders and mayhem. Witnessing the absolute worst in his city has drawn Mansoor into the darkest corners of his psyche. The most dangerous part? He’s the last to know it.

Theme: “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster, for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” -Nietzsche

Comps: American Psycho, Nightcrawler, Sin City, Fight Club, Seven, Goodfellas, Nolan’s Batman films, Get Out, Twilight Zone, Black Mirror.

Length/Genre: 10 mins/urban neo-noir psychological thriller

Status: script development is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and production is actively seeking funding. 

ISO: looking for pros and proteges open to working on a potentially low budget 4K cinematic calling-card noir film aimed to push emerging/mid-level careers to the next level, leaving niche online viewers bemoaning, “please make it into a feature!”! 

about the showrunner

Maziar Ghaderi is an award-winning director, writer, producer, multimedia artist, and educator that works in film, multimedia and interactive technology currently residing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With a background in media production, Maziar strives to articulate his social commentary through metaphors, epiphanies and critiques that speak to the zeitgeist of our times.

Maziar's work has been curated across North America, Europe, West Asia and recognized by the MIT Media Lab, Columbia University, CBC Docs POV, The Creator's Project, Deadline, VICE, Toronto Media Arts Centre, Blast Theory, The Globe & Mail, CBC Radio, Toronto Life, The Georgia Straight, Newsweek, The Washington Times, Russia Today, The Irish Times, National Review, WIRED and SIGGRAPH. He has also presented at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, Tokyo International Short Film Festival, New York Tri-State International Film Festival, Toronto Independent Film Festival of Cift, Toronto Wearables, Tashkeel Dubai Art Center, Subtle Technologies, Brooklyn's Film Noir Cinema, Gladstone Hotel, The Gardiner Museum, SummerWorks Festival, HarbourFront Centre's HATCH festival, Sumahan Istanbul Art, The Fridge Dubai, Nuit Blanche, Ontario Centre of Excellence and has co-authored several academic articles for design conferences and think tanks.

He was also the media producer for Marina Abramovic at the 2013 Luminato Festival's MAI Prototype, and has directed and produced his original work, Dissolving Self for the International Symposium on Electronic Art 2014 (ISEA) held in Dubai.

An avid grant writer and strategic arts producer, Maziar has raised more than $115,000 for his art and film projects in 2021 alone in the very highly competitive funding pools of scripted, factual and new media art.

The very first feature film that he produced went on to clinch the #1 spot on iTunes upon its debut in 2019 and was broadcast on CBC and distributed by one of the largest and most successful distribution companies, Gravitas Ventures to rave reviews.

Maziar has also teaches story structure, media production and conceptual development at fine art institutions such as OCAD University, China Academy of Art and X University and holds a Diploma in Marketing Management, a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from McGill University, a Bachelors in Media Studies and a Masters in Design (Digital Futures stream).

In past lives, Maziar has filmed obscure shorts in Vancouver, cut limes in Montreal, sold phrasal verbs in Brazil and wore cotton diapers in Tehran. He speaks English, Brazilian-Portuguese, Spanish and Persian.

inquire and/or apply here.

If you appreciated the ending of American Psycho, are inspired by darker themes and feel that you have something to offer for this exciting film project then please get in touch. Preference given for David Fincher fans! Specifically: The Game, Fight Club, Seven.

If you are just breaking out in the industry and want to see BIPOC leads in nuanced roles written by the same demographic and don’t let political correctness curb your truth, then please get in touch.

If you are a gear-head and know you are good at what you do, then please get in touch and I’ll try my best to afford you.

If you are a lover of film, know Toronto shooting locations well (or want to) and see promise in this project and want to jump on-board as this early stage (don’t blame you) then please get in touch.

I want to work with cinephiles that can finish my sentences. That get what I’m trying to do and understand the sub-genres, archetypes, and production design of the mood I’m trying to build. And most importantly can contribute to it.

I’m looking for folks on the same career path as me that want to be genre feature filmmakers and don’t see themselves working only on shorts, small time stuff or commercials in their prime. Not that there’s anything wrong with that :)

G’head. Please fill out the form below.