Deadline is reporting that Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, creator of the Lifetime series UnReal, is set to make her feature directorial debut with a movie about the Yazidi, a group of heroic female fighters and survivors of the Yazidi genocide who have taken up arms to battle ISIS.
According to the site, Shapiro is currently deep into research on the subject, talking to experts about the plight of the Yazidi sex slaves, with a particular emphasis on those who have escaped their ISIS captors, taken up arms and are training to retake Mosul and kill their rapists. She is also researching the story of European jihadi brides, as well as that of American aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was kidnapped by ISIS in 2013 and subjected to horrific abuse at the hands of her captors before her death in 2015.
Shapiro has previously directed episode of UnReal and The Faith Diaries, and has set up the Yazidi project from a original pitch and is currently hard at work on the script. J.C. Chandor, Neal Dodson and Anna Gerb as serving as producers.
Originally published July 21, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
