Ali Fazal began his career in the widely popular 3 IDIOTS (2009), which became the highest grossing Indian film abroad with $90m in box office internationally. His follow up film was the hit comedy FUKREY which became a three part franchise and the highest grossing film in the Indian box office. It was his debut in James Wan’s FURIOUS 7 (2015) which grossed $1.5 billion dollars worldwide for Universal Pictures where he joined the ensemble cast as Emirati car mechanic underground racer ‘Safar” that Fazal started to gain recognition outside of India. And in 2017, it was his titular role in Stephen Frears’ VICTORIA & ABDUL for Focus Features opposite Judi Dench that earned Fazal praise and recognition for his chemistry and performance alongside Dame Dench. The film released in 2017 after premiering at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and went on to earn Golden Globe, SAG and Oscar nominations. That same year Fazal earned Variety’s coveted “10 Actors to Watch” Award that was presented at the Hamptons Film Festival and was invited to join the Academy. Fazal starred in Netflix Original’s first Hindi Language film “House Arrest” in 2019. In 2021, Fazal was nominated for Best Actor at the 2021 Asia Content Awards held at the Busan Film Festival for his role in Netflix’ anthology series “Ray.”

In 2018, Amazon launched their first Hindi crime series with “Mirzapur” which follows Fazal as a frumpy townie whose unfortunate run in with a powerful kingpin forces him to toughen up and seek revenge. It is the most watched series in the Asia-Pacific and was picked up for Season 3 by Amazon. Fazal will next be seen in the “Murder on Orient Express” follow up DEATH ON THE NILE for 20th Century Studios with a fresh new take in the Agatha Christie’s character “Uncle Andrew” which highlights the character’s first color blind casting. The film will release February 2011. Fazal recently wrapped a lead villain in Ric Roman Waugh’s “Kandahar” opposite Gerard Butler for Thunder Road Pictures. His next film is “Khufiya” a film where Fazal plays a double agent with the CIA and CBI for Netflix.

Nikohl Boosheri is a Canadian actress based in Los Angeles. She made her film debut in 2011 with the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award Winner, "Circumstance." Her acclaimed performance in the film won Best Performance at three other Film Festivals: LA Outfest, International Rome Film Festival, and the Noor Film Festival.

At the Tribeca Film Festival, 2013, Nikohl was named among the 10 Actors to watch for by IndieWires for her performance in Meera Menon's feature "Farah Goes Bang."

Nikohl's credits include acting opposite Thandie Newton in DirectTV's "Rogue", and portraying the colorful character Sara in Daniel Grove's "The Persian Connection." This has been a busy year for Nikohl, she is playing a wide range of roles across several Networks this fall. Nikohl is also a songwriter, frequently collaborating with LA artist Wild the Coyote.

Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, Amber Afzali discovered her passion for acting at an early age. After moving to Southern California with her family when she was eight, Afzali’s parents enrolled her in acting classes to help her overcome her shyness. It didn’t take long for Afzali’s natural talent to shine through and, when her teacher presented her with an award for best commercial skit, her confidence began to flourish. While she loved the creative freedom that performing afforded her, Afzali soon found it difficult to balance the demands of acting classes with her school work and made the decision to focus on her education as she pursued her dream of attending an Ivy League University. She channeled her energy into academics and other pursuits including serving as school president and in student government, among many other activities. After graduation, her Ivy League dreams came true when she enrolled at The University of Pennsylvania to study Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations. It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic forced Afzali to return to California and continue her studies remotely, that she began to realize her creative spark was missing. As the world began to reopen, she sought out a local acting class and once again found her love for performing. With her passion reignited, Afzali decided to seriously pursue a career in acting which would ultimately lead to an audition that would change her life forever.

Her big break came when she went on her first audition after returning to acting and landed a lead role in the upcoming Angel Studios film Rule Breakers. The movie chronicles the inspiring true story of the first all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan founded by Roya Mahboob, which would defy cultural expectations and go on to compete in competitions around the world. Afzali stars as Esin, a member of the team, alongside a talented cast including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Nikohl Boosheri, and Ali Fazal just to name a few. It is set to be released in theaters March 7th.

Bill Guttentag is a double Oscar-winning dramatic and documentary film writer-producer-director. His films have premiered at the Sundance, Cannes, Telluride and Tribeca film festivals. He directed Nanking (THINKFilm, 2007), a theatrical documentary which premiered at Sundance and featured Woody Harrelson, and was shortlisted for an Oscar. He also directed Soundtrack for a Revolution (Wild Bunch, 2009), which had its international premiere at Cannes and was also shortlisted for an Oscar.

He wrote and directed the dramatic feature LIVE! (Atlas Entertainment, 2008) starring Eva Mendes and Andre Braugher, and produced by Chuck Roven. He also wrote and directed Knife Fight (IFC, 2013) starring Rob Lowe, Julie Bowen, David Harbor, Jamie Chung, and Carrie-Ann Moss. Both films premiered at Tribeca.

Bill Guttentag won an Academy Award for the documentary Twin Towers (Universal, 2003). He has also received a second Oscar, three additional Oscar nominations, a Peabody Award, three Emmy Awards, three additional Emmy nominations, two Writers Guild Award nominations, a Producers Guild Award nomination, and a Robert Kennedy Journalism Award. His films have been selected for Sundance three times, Telluride twice, Tribeca five times, and have won awards at numerous American and international film festivals. They have received a number of special screenings including at the Museum of Modern Art, Council on Foreign Relations, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the White House.

He recently completed Rule Breakers, a dramatic feature he directed and co-wrote, based on the true story of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team. The film stars Nikohl Boosheri, Ali Fazal, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Bill Guttentag partnered with Richard Linklater on That Animal Rescue Show, on which they were executive producers and directors. The 10-part series aired on Paramount+ (2020). An episode from the series was part of the selection of the 2020 Telluride Film Festival.

His film Only the Dead See the End of War (HBO), premiered theatrically at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival. He won an AACTA Award (Australian Academy Award) for best directing for a documentary, and a Walkley Award (Australian Pulitzer) for the film. The film was nominated for an Emmy. Bill Guttentag created, executive produced, and directed the NBC series Crime & Punishment, which ran for three seasons (2002-2004). The series was part of the Law & Order family of shows, and was created with Dick Wolf, who was also an executive producer. Over the series’ run, nearly every show was in the Nielsen top 20.

He has directed commercials and other projects for a number of Silicon Valley companies including Google, Yahoo, and MasterClass. He is also an advisor to Silicon Valley companies including Mattermost and MasterClass, where he directed the first and third classes (James Patterson and Serena Williams). His novel, Boulevard was published by Pegasus Books/W.W. Norton in 2011. The French edition was published by Éditions Gallimard, where it was finalist for the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. He co-wrote Masters of Disaster – The Ten Commandments of Damage Control (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2012). He has also written nonfiction pieces, including for The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times. He has served on a number of film festival juries, including the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Morelia Film Festival. He has given talks and shown his films at numerous US and international universities.

His film, Nanking, was filmed largely in China, and won awards at a number of US and international film festivals (including Sundance), and after its theatrical release, played on Cinemax. Guttentag won a Peabody Award and Emmy Award and was nominated for a WGA award for the film. Nanking’s international release included China, where it became the highest grossing theatrical documentary in Chinese history. He has directed eight films for HBO, as well as films for ABC, CBS, National Geographic, and others. He produced Groomed (Blumhouse, 2021), which premiered on Discovery+, and directed and produced Sublime (Interscope) which premiered at Tribeca in 2019. Additional films include, You Don't Have to Die (HBO), for which he won an Oscar. Since 2001, Bill Guttentag has been a lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Photo Credit: Marina Brodskaya

Laura Bilodeau Overdeck, producer of Rule Breakers, is an education reformer, author and philanthropist. She is the founder of Bedtime Math, a nationwide nonprofit whose research-proven app reduces math anxiety for kids and parents, and the author of the Bedtime Math book series (Macmillan).

As a founding board member of the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund, Laura launched the statewide New Jersey Tutoring Corps, which raises elementary students’ math and reading skills to grade level and beyond. In 2023 she independently founded Rekindle, a nonprofit that recruits award-winning educators to coach novice elementary school teachers on effective math instruction.

Laura has been appointed by three New Jersey governors to lead working groups on pressing education issues. In 2007, she was appointed to the board of New Jersey Governor’s School, a residential summer program for talented high school seniors to study on college campuses. In 2015, she co-chaired the STEM Pathways Network, an initiative to partner schools, corporations, science museums and other nonprofits to develop more robust STEM opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. And in 2018, she co-chaired the Working Group for On-Ramps to College, which advocated to increase New Jersey students’ higher education enrollment in the state.

Laura’s experience with robotics sparked her immediate passion for the Rule Breakers project. Her family foundation has been a longtime contributor to FIRST Robotics, and she personally coached her son’s FIRST Lego League team.

Laura is an alumna and former trustee of Princeton University, where she earned a B.A. in astrophysics. She also holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business and an honorary doctorate from Stevens Institute of Technology. Laura serves on the boards of Khan Academy and Liberty Science Center, and the advisory board for Princeton’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences.

New York and New Delhi based film producer comes from a broad experience in Production Design, having collaborated on several Academy Award and BAFTA winning feature films before venturing into creative producing. She developed and produced international feature films before setting up her banner Samscape Productions in New York City.

Born and raised in India, Samudrika is a graduate of the prestigious art school École des Arts Appliqués Boulle, in Paris.

Elaha Mahboob is a social entrepreneur and cofounder of the New York-based Digital Citizen Fund with her sister, Roya. They help females in developing countries to access technology and connect with people and resources virtually, in a bid to develop the skills necessary to compete in a global market. A graduate student at Cornell, Elaha specializes in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and policy infrastructure. She is also mentor to an all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan who competed in a robotics competition in Washington D.C. last year.

Jason Brown is Director of the Creative Writing MFA at the University of Oregon. His stories and essays have won several awards and appeared in Best American Short Stories, The New Yorker, Best American Essays, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The Pushcart Prize Anthology and other magazines and anthologies. Several of his stories have been performed as part of NPR’s Selected Shorts. He has published four books of short stories: Driving the Heart and Other Stories, Why the Devil Chose New England For His Work, A Faithful But Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed, and Outermark. He is also the author of a memoir, Character Witness. Rule Breakers is his first screenplay.