Screenwriting partners Maryam Keshavarz [pictured] and Paolo Marinou-Blanco receive this year’s $15,000 SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant for The Last Harem.

Musa Syeed received an honorable mention for The Doctor.

The panelists who reviewed submissions were Tamara Badgley Horowitz, SFFS grants coordinator; Jennie Frankel Frisbie, agent, Magnet Management; SFFS Publicity manager Bill Proctor; Michele Turnure-Salleo, director of Filmmaker360; and multi-hyphenate Christopher Upham.

“The Last Harem offers a unique perspective on Persian history,” said the jurors in a statement. “Shining a spotlight on a period unfamiliar to many Western audiences, the evocative writing pulled the jury into a fully-realized world of intrigue, passion and power.”

The SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant, supported by a gift from William R. Hearst III, is a component of the expanding grants program administered through Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s robust filmmaker services department.

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