An International Independent Film Production Company
Farasha Pictures is an independent film production company dedicated to developing thoughtful, internationally minded cinema. The studio focuses on projects that combine artistic storytelling with meaningful cultural perspectives, while building collaborations across regions and creative communities.
Farasha Pictures was founded in the spirit of a small circle of film enthusiasts brought together by a shared belief in the power of cinema to connect cultures and illuminate human stories.
Inspired by the meaning of Farasha—the butterfly—the studio embraces the idea of transformation, movement, and creative collaboration. Like a butterfly crossing borders, Farasha Pictures seeks to support films that travel across cultures and bring diverse voices into conversation.
Through a network of filmmakers, producers, and patrons, Farasha Pictures nurtures projects that combine artistic vision with international collaboration.
Meet the Executive Producers
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Lucy Chow
Executive Producer | Global Ambassador & Spokesperson
Lucy is one of the studio's most recognizable faces across the international creative, business, and cultural communities she has spent decades building credibility within.A Chinese Canadian expatriate based in Dubai, Lucy operates fluidly across the Middle East, Asia, and North America as a trusted voice in each of those worlds. That cross-cultural credibility is rare, and it is one of Farasha's most valuable assets in building the global partnerships and audiences the studio is positioned to reach.
She is the author of Changing the Game, a book examining how emerging industries reshape culture and opportunity, and co-publisher of Women of the Future UAE, a platform celebrating women redefining leadership across the region. Her work has placed her at the intersection of publishing, thought leadership, entrepreneurship, and women's empowerment — giving her a network and a platform that extends well beyond the film industry.
At Farasha, Lucy champions narratives that explore identity, belonging, migration, and the evolving role of women — particularly Arab and Asian women navigating heritage, ambition, and modern life. Her producing philosophy is straightforward: protect the integrity of the story, build the right structure around it, and make sure it travels.
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Linda Harding
Executive Producer | Cultural Patron & Advisor
Linda brings over three decades of global experience, educational leadership, and a commitment to stories that matter. Linda's foundation is the classroom — a 36-year career as an educator that shaped her understanding of human development, empathy, and the responsibility of the people who shape young minds. That same discipline and care now drives her approach to film. She is also a writer, drawn to the craft of language with the same rigor she brought to teaching.
A United States citizen with deep roots in the United Kingdom and long-standing ties to the UAE, Linda was closely connected to international aviation and exploration communities through her late husband, British aviator and explorer Hamish Harding — a relationship that reinforced her belief that curiosity and courage are the foundations of any meaningful journey, creative or otherwise.
At Farasha, Linda views the studio's name — Farasha, Arabic for butterfly — as deeply personal: a symbol of transformation, endurance, and the grace that can follow adversity.
And if you've spent five minutes with Linda, you already know: she is genuinely, effortlessly funny. Her humor is the kind that disarms a room and then opens it up — the mark of a great teacher, a natural writer, and an even better storyteller.
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Kersti Krepp
Executive Producer | Director, Farasha Pictures International Limited in Hong Kong
Kersti leads the studio’s international development and cross-border growth strategy, bringing both strategic vision and operational depth. A senior executive, board advisor, and founder of Krepp Global, she has spent over two decades leading large-scale commercial operations across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.
She recently joined Atlas Air as Head of Global Scheduled Service, where she leads a global transformation mandate—shaping a unified, cross-regional platform across Asia and the Americas, with a focus on governance, network performance, and commercial–operational integration.
With a background in global aviation and logistics, she has navigated complex regulatory environments, restructured major joint ventures, and driven strategic transformations at scale.
The daughter of immigrants and a long-time resident of Asia, Kersti brings an instinctive understanding of how cultures connect and build trust—an essential edge in international co-productions.
Based in Hong Kong, she anchors Farasha’s global reach, building the frameworks and partnerships that allow the studio’s stories to travel. She believes the most powerful films are not only artistically driven, but structurally sound—and that a producer’s role is to create the conditions where creative work can truly flourish.
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Winola Hamdan
Executive Producer | Business Strategy & Operations Advisor
Winola builds the financial architecture and operational foundation that supports the studio’s creative risks to scale with intention and integrity.
As a second-generation Chinese American with her multi-cultural family spanning continents, Winola returned to the San Francisco area after living as an expat in Kuwait and Dubai for over a decade. Winola brings a deeply global perspective to storytelling and cross-border collaboration.
A Certified Public Accountant and financial strategist, Winola has over two decades of leadership experience spanning Big Four consulting, Fortune 100 corporations, and high-growth Silicon Valley startups. Her work has focused on establishing strong financial infrastructure, effective internal control environments, and business risk and process assessment. She is also Co-Founder and Principal of DarWin Co., a provider of strategic financial and accounting advisory services.
Parallel to her finance career, Winola is a visual artist and Fine Arts graduate whose work spans multimedia, oil painting, drawing, print, textiles, ceramics, and sculpture. Her practice explores identity, female roles and expectations, memory, legacy, and multicultural experience. At Farasha Pictures, she is drawn to similar narratives– supporting minority voices, emerging artists, and utilizing her intersection between creative and logistical work.
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Mimi Yoo
Executive Producer | Founder & Managing Director
Mimi is the founder of Farasha Pictures, a boutique film company devoted to cinematic excellence and storytelling that transcends borders. Her work focuses on bringing together filmmakers, patrons, and cultural partners to support independent cinema that resonates across cultures and generations.Before entering film, Mimi built her career in the United States and later served as a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch’s Beverly Hills International Office, advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals and international families. Her experience shaped a deep understanding of legacy, stewardship, and the role of patronage in supporting meaningful, enduring work.
Based in Dubai since 2007, Mimi has lived at the crossroads of the Middle East, Asia, and the United States. Her international life informs both her creative vision and her ongoing involvement in cultural and educational initiatives, including her role as Managing Director of the ExploreXtraordinaire Center.
Guided by a lifelong love of literature and storytelling, Mimi approaches cinema as a cultural bridge—one that connects perspectives, fosters empathy, and reflects the richness of the human experience. Through Farasha Pictures, she is committed to championing diverse voices and supporting stories that are both intimate in voice and global in reach.
Meet Our Fellow
Jolina Handam
Farasha Fellow Jolina Hamdan is a Farasha Fellow at Farasha Pictures, contributing to legal research, project development, and production coordination — and representing the next generation of creative leaders the studio is intentionally cultivating.
Born in San Francisco and raised in Dubai, she is Chinese–Middle Eastern by heritage and global in outlook. She is currently pursuing dual degrees in Political Science and Communication Studies at Chapman University, where she founded AURA, a student-led initiative focused on health, social reform, and community engagement. Her academic work reflects a growing interest in the intersection of global politics, media, and cultural representation.
Alongside her academic path, Jolina is a trained classical pianist, vocalist, and contemporary dancer, bringing a creative sensibility that complements her analytical discipline. This dual perspective allows her to move fluidly between legal thinking and artistic intuition — an approach well aligned with Farasha’s work.
With a long-term goal of entering entertainment law, Jolina is focused on protecting culturally meaningful stories and the diverse voices behind them. At Farasha, she is already building that foundation — gaining firsthand experience across legal and production functions while developing the perspective needed to advocate for the stories the studio is committed to telling.
Associate Producer Circle
As part of the production financing structure for Sea Otter, Farasha Pictures has established an Associate Producer Circle designed to support the film’s final development and production phase.
Current Associate Producers
We are pleased to confirm the participation of the following Associate Producers:
• Debra Barella spent over thirty years inside under-resourced schools—as educator, counselor, and trusted presence for students navigating identity, hardship, and defining moments of change. She worked across special education, high school classrooms, and college advising, building sustained relationships with students whose stories stayed with her long after they left her care.
That lived proximity—to resilience, unspoken trauma, unexpected brilliance, and survival—became the foundation of her voice as a writer and story consultant. Many of those former students remain part of her life today, continuing to shape her perspective and her sense of responsibility as a storyteller.
At Farasha Pictures, Debbie brings that depth to her role as Associate Producer and Story Consultant. Her work is grounded in emotional truth, cultural awareness, and an unwavering commitment to portraying underrepresented lives with full humanity—not as narratives of circumstance, but as the complex, layered experiences they truly are.
