Iran-Hollywood ‘1st Born’ goes up for auction

The copyright to Ali Atshani’s 2019 comedy ‘1st Born’, a joint feature film co-production between Iran and Hollywood, has been putting up for auction.

 ‘1st Born’, which is notable for being the first joint feature film production between Iran and the US, is being auctioned through a Blockchain-based e-auction technology.

The crew of the film has announced that some 5% of the sales revenue will be allocated to purchasing and donating COVID-19 vaccines to the people of Iran.

The auction started on Friday, August 20, 2021 at 1stbornnft.com as NFT and will last for seven days.

Non-fungible token, or NFT, is a form of crypto asset that uses blockchain technology to record the ownership status of digital objects that cannot be reproduced.  

It is the first time in the history of Iran cinema that the copyright of a movie goes on international auction.

Using a cast and crew from both the U.S. and Iran, ‘1st Born’ kicked off filming in Los Angeles in September 2017.  

‘1st Born’ is about a newlywed couple, Iranian-born Ben and his American wife Kate, who are living in California.

“When the couple’s first pregnancy faces complications, both sides of their family must come together — a rather complicated notion as Ben’s father Hamid is an anti-American Iranian politician, while Kate’s father Biden (Kilmer) is an American politician who takes a hardline stance against Iran,” reads as a summery for the film.

American actor Tom Berenger, better known for his roles in ‘Platoon’ and ‘Inception’, appears as US President Donald Trump in the film.

Other notable American actors cast in ‘1st Born’ include Val Kilmer, William Baldwin, Greg Grunberg, Taylor Cole, Reza Sixo Safai, Jay Abdo, Tom Berenger, and Denise Richards.

Sam Khoze produced the film at Hollywood-based LA Independent Film and Entertainment with a team that includes producer Edwin Avaness and associate producer in Iran Pouriya Naserbakht.

MM/FM