Italian documentary director Michela Scolari has acquired global rights to the story of Yassmin Pucci Pahlavi, granddaughter of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi — the last Shah of Iran, deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution — with a docuseries currently in production at Cannes, according to a report in Variety published in May 2026.
Yassmin Pucci Pahlavi is a cousin of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince who has remained an active and internationally visible figure in Iranian opposition politics, particularly since the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising that swept Iran beginning in 2022. The docuseries positions her story as both a personal narrative and a window into one of the defining dynastic collapses of the modern era — a family whose fall restructured the geopolitics of the Middle East and whose descendants remain, decades later, figures of genuine consequence.
Scolari's acquisition of global rights signals an intent to bring the project to audiences well beyond Italy, with Cannes serving as a logical launchpad for international sales and distribution conversations. No broadcast or streaming partners have been announced publicly at this stage.
The Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran for over fifty years before the revolution. The family has lived in exile across Europe and the United States since 1979, and its members continue to be scrutinized by both Iranian state actors and the international press. A docuseries centered on a younger-generation figure like Yassmin Pucci Pahlavi adds a dimension the existing archive of exile coverage has largely missed.
I filed this one straight. It's got geopolitics, dynasty, exile, and a director who did the work to acquire the rights. Nobody will click past the headline, but the headline's already more than this story's ever gotten.