[P]Art Collective was founded in 2010 by Artistic and Executive Directors Neda Moridpour and Pouya Afshar, with the aim of creating art that serves as a form of societal intervention. The collective has engaged in numerous collaborative projects within public spaces, emphasizing the importance of social exchange. Their mission centers on fostering community engagement through the exchange of ideas, raising social awareness, and advocating for the practice of democracy and freedom, which may lead to healing or improvement of specific circumstances. Collaborative research, production, and post-production processes serve as the core methodology for achieving these goals.
2010- present
Los Angeles, CA
Leyla's Journey
2025
This illustrated narrative, written by Neda Moridpour and Pouya Afshar and Illustrated by Pouya Afshar, follows Layla, a young girl adjusting to life in a new country as she navigates questions of identity, belonging, and cultural transition. Through friendship, creativity, and moments of courage, Layla learns that she does not have to choose between two worlds, her heart can hold both. The book offers a gentle exploration of migration, bicultural identity, and the emotional landscape of childhood displacement.
Written by Neda Moridpour and Pouya Afshar
Illustration by Pouya Afshar
Edited by Roya Rastegar
Published by AZADI BOOKS
WHAT STANDS IN THE DARK
2025
What Stands in the Dark, reimagines Rumi’s “Elephant in the Dark,” portraying a fragmented search for truth. Five unseen figures encounter different parts of an immense being, each interpreting it through their own lens. The film reveals how limited perception breeds illusion yet invites reverence for the act of seeking itself.
Animator and Director: Pouya Afshar
Producer: Neda Moridpour
LA DOLCE VITA
2019
A short animation produced by [P]Art Collective written and animated by Neda Moridpour and Pouya Afshar centers on Hope, a displaced character who flees their war-torn home city in search of a better life and future. The animation portrays their journey of migration and resettlement in an abandoned city that once thrived as an amusement park. In this Coney Island-esque environment, they must adapt to their new surroundings, striving to find purpose while preserving their identity and individuality. In the end, Hope confronts a wall, symbolizing a dead end to their journey
News and Awards
2020
Buffalo International Film Festival(BFF), Official Selection
Mente Locale Visioni sul Territorio, Official Selection
Burbank International Film Festival, Semi Finalist
Goa Short Film Festival, Official Selection
Sciacca Film Festival, Official Selection
HECare Film Festival, Official Selection
Rassam International Short Film Festival, Official Selection
Pune Short Film Festival, Official Selection
SENSUS Film Festival, Official Selection
2019
Moscow Shorts-International Short Film Festival, Official Selection
Mimo Milano Mobile Film Festival, Official Selection
Umana Solidarietà International Film Festival, Official Selection
Rostam in Wonderland
2013-2017
Rostam in Wonderland
Produced by [P]Art Collective and Sooriland Studios.
“Rostam in Wonderland” is an animated series based on Rostam, the mythical hero of the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), and his experiences in 21st century Iran. The Shahnameh is part of the canon of classical Iranian literature, written in the 10th/11th century by Ferdowsi, one of Iran’s most renowned poets.
“Rostam in Wonderland” profiles Rostam’s encounters with a world completely different from his own. In every episode, Rostam learns something new about modern Iranian culture and other issues of everyday life in present day Iran.
Throughout the series, Rostam is forced to reconcile his own traditions and experiences with cultural complications, technological advances, and the new ideologies permeating Iranian life. Each episode is unique, highlighting everything from social customs to simple complications experienced by every day Iranians.
This project is produced as a collaboration between [P]ART Collective and Sooriland Studios.
News and Awards:
Screening of Rostam in Wonderland at Los Angeles County Museum
of Art (LACMA). 2019
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Permanent Collection
Islamic Art Now II. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). 2016
Farhang Foundation Short Film Fstival First Prize Winner. Rostam in Wonderland: Sohrab's Blood.2013
Farhang Foundation Short Film Fstival Second Prize Winner. The Voided Loom. 2012
Rostam In Wonderland on BBC Persian. 2013
Activism Meets Art at [P]Art by Neda Moridpour. Muftah Magazine. 2013
Rostam in Wondelarnd by Pouya Afshar. Muftah Magazine. 2013
Rostam in Wonderland: A Six Pillars Interview with Pouya Afshar. 2013
Hamshahri Javan. Interview with Soroush Rezaie, founder of Sooriland. 2013
The Voided Loom
2011-2012
The Voided Loom: Kelardasht's Carpet
Produced by [P]Art Collective
The Voided Loom is a unique story of Kelardasht's Carpet: a video documentary that portrays the ties between culture, emotions and the environment of a community which gave the primeval folklore of carpet weaving its form and generation to generation permanence.
Kelardasht's Carpet weaving, the art and practice of hundreds of years old, was a memento of immigration of an ethnic group but unfortunately it has not gained the reputation it deserves and it is in the verge of extinction. What you will see, hear and experience in this documentary is a visual perspective of a two year study of this region and its carpet weaving art, to be compiled as Socially Engaged Art project in the future.
The video is in fact an independent documentary selected from a large number of interviews and narrative stories gathered around the aesthetic characteristics and positions of Kelardasht Carpet throughout its rise and fall, it's effects on the community of women and their lives in Kelardasht.
...Those pieces of findings that were impossible to be put in any form of writing or depicted on any page of a book are being portrayed in this film. However, this project is still in progress and it had not ended with this short film.
[P]Art Collective is aiming to continue this project in Kelardasht in order to use art as a mean of community building and community engagement.
The Voided Loom was the Second Prize Winner at The Farhang Foundation Short film Festival in 2012.
The documentary was screened at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)as part of the festival and also at the Celebration Ceremony of the Persian Hand-woven Carpet at the National Museum of Persian Carpet in Tehran, Iran.