The film industry has always balanced two very different approaches to storytelling. On one side are blockbusters, large-scale productions built around substantial budgets, recognizable stars, extensive marketing campaigns, and the potential to reach audiences around the world. On the other are independent films, which often operate with smaller budgets while giving filmmakers greater freedom to explore distinctive ideas, unconventional characters, and stories that may not fit traditional commercial formulas.
Neither approach is inherently better. Instead, independent films and blockbusters represent different ways of turning an idea into a cinematic experience. The contrast becomes particularly interesting when considering filmmakers who enter the industry from unconventional professional backgrounds, such as Bardya Ziaian, whose transition from entrepreneurship and financial technology into filmmaking illustrates how independent cinema can provide opportunities to pursue a creative vision outside the traditional studio system.
What Defines an Independent Film?
Independent films are generally produced outside the major studio system or with substantially greater creative and financial independence. Their budgets can vary considerably, but they commonly operate with fewer resources than major blockbuster productions.
That limitation can also become an advantage.
With fewer commercial expectations, independent filmmakers may have more room to experiment with storytelling, tone, subject matter, and characters. A filmmaker does not necessarily need to build a story around an established franchise or guarantee a particular box-office formula. Instead, the emphasis can be placed on the filmmaker’s vision.
Independent productions can also create opportunities for emerging actors, writers, producers, and technical professionals. For audiences, this means independent cinema can introduce perspectives and ideas that might otherwise receive less attention.
What Makes a Blockbuster Different?
Blockbusters typically operate on a completely different scale. Major productions can involve enormous budgets, extensive visual effects, international locations, famous performers, large crews, and global promotional campaigns.
The financial stakes are correspondingly high. A blockbuster may need to appeal to audiences across multiple countries and demographic groups to justify its investment. This can encourage studios to rely on recognizable intellectual property, established franchises, sequels, and commercially proven concepts.
The result can be spectacular cinema. Blockbusters have the resources to create extraordinary action sequences, elaborate worlds, sophisticated visual effects, and immersive theatrical experiences.
However, scale can sometimes come with constraints. When hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in a project, taking major creative risks can become more difficult. A smaller independent production may be able to experiment in ways that a massive commercial release cannot.
Creative Freedom Is a Major Difference
One of the most important distinctions between independent productions and blockbusters is creative freedom.
A blockbuster has to satisfy many stakeholders, including investors, studios, distributors, marketing departments, and international audiences. Independent filmmakers may still face financial and commercial pressures, but the decision-making structure can be considerably more flexible.
This flexibility can allow filmmakers to develop stories that are unusual, personal, or difficult to categorize.
The career transition of Bardya Ziaian provides an interesting example. According to his professional biographies, he built a career in mathematics, technology, finance, and entrepreneurship before pursuing filmmaking. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from York University and worked as a project manager and senior software engineer before moving into financial asset management and entrepreneurship. He later became associated with companies including Virtual Brokers, BBS Securities, and Pario Technologies.
His move into film demonstrates that independent filmmaking can be accessible to people whose professional backgrounds do not follow the conventional path of film school, studio employment, and years inside the entertainment industry.
A Different Path Into Filmmaking
The transition from financial technology to filmmaking is particularly notable because the two industries appear very different at first glance.
Finance emphasizes systems, analysis, risk management, planning, and execution. Filmmaking requires creativity, collaboration, storytelling, production management, and an understanding of audiences.
Yet many of those skills can overlap.
Planning a film requires managing budgets, coordinating teams, making decisions under uncertainty, and maintaining a project through numerous stages of development. Entrepreneurial experience can therefore provide useful tools for an independent producer.
According to the profile published by SITTU, Ziaian’s experience includes designing trading and clearing systems, managing businesses, consulting with companies, and investing in early-stage ventures. SITTU also identifies him as a producer and writer of the comedy thriller Super Dicks.
His professional profile on about.me similarly describes him as an entrepreneur and financial asset manager before noting his work as a producer and writer in film.
The Independent Film Example
The first feature associated with Bardya Pictures was Super Dicks, a comedy that represents an independent approach to filmmaking. Bardya Pictures describes the company as a Canadian film production company founded in 2020 with a focus on indie films. Its development began with the concept for Super Dicks, followed by script development, talent recruitment, financing, and production.
The company’s account of the project also highlights an important characteristic of independent filmmaking: the willingness to learn while producing.
Ziaian has described beginning with the idea, developing the story and screenplay, assembling a team, securing financing, and eventually producing the film. He has also acknowledged that he entered filmmaking without established industry connections.
That experience captures one of the defining qualities of independent cinema. Instead of waiting for an established studio structure to provide an opportunity, an entrepreneur or filmmaker can build a project from the ground up.
Independent Films Can Take Creative Risks
The freedom to take risks is one reason independent films remain important.
A smaller production does not necessarily have to compete with a blockbuster on spectacle. It can compete through originality.
An independent comedy can explore controversial or unconventional ideas. A drama can focus on intimate human experiences rather than expensive locations. A thriller can rely on atmosphere and character development rather than enormous action sequences.
The approach associated with Super Dicks illustrates this philosophy. The film is presented as a comedy while also incorporating cultural and thought-provoking elements. IMDb lists Ziaian as a producer, writer, and actor connected with the project, while also identifying other film projects in his credits.
The result is an example of how a filmmaker can use an independent production to combine entertainment with ideas that encourage audiences to think beyond the surface of the story.
The Challenges of Independent Production
The creative freedom of independent filmmaking comes with substantial challenges.
Funding is one of the most obvious. A major studio can have established financing structures, distribution relationships, marketing departments, and production infrastructure. Independent filmmakers frequently have to assemble these resources themselves.
There is also the challenge of building a team.
A film requires writers, actors, cinematographers, editors, production personnel, accountants, managers, and many other specialists. For someone entering the industry without a traditional film background, developing those relationships can be particularly demanding.
Ziaian’s account of producing his first feature describes exactly this learning curve. He has explained that assembling the team, hiring talent, securing funding, and producing the film were all part of a process he had to learn.
The pandemic added another layer of difficulty. According to his biography, research and development and script work were already underway before COVID-19, and production continued with enhanced safety procedures rather than being abandoned.
Blockbusters Offer Advantages Independent Films Cannot Easily Match
Despite the appeal of independent filmmaking, blockbusters have clear strengths.
A major studio production can provide resources that are difficult for a small production company to replicate. Large visual-effects teams, sophisticated sound design, international marketing, extensive theatrical distribution, and high-profile talent can dramatically expand the scope of a story.
Blockbusters can also bring filmmaking to enormous audiences.
A successful franchise can reach millions of viewers and become part of popular culture. The theatrical experience can be particularly powerful when a film uses its enormous resources to create spectacle.
The issue, therefore, is not whether blockbusters are good or bad. It is whether the scale of production serves the story.
Which Approach Is Better?
There is no universal answer.
If a story requires enormous environments, complex visual effects, elaborate action, or a huge production design, a blockbuster model may be appropriate.
If the story depends more heavily on originality, character, dialogue, cultural observation, or a filmmaker’s distinctive voice, an independent model may provide greater flexibility.
The two approaches can also influence each other. Independent filmmakers can eventually move into larger productions, while major studios sometimes acquire or distribute films that began as independent projects.
The film industry benefits from having both.
Why Independent Cinema Still Matters
Independent filmmaking remains important because it expands the range of stories that can reach audiences.
The next major filmmaker may not come from a traditional entertainment background. They might be an entrepreneur, engineer, teacher, writer, artist, or professional from an entirely different field.
The story of Bardya Ziaian reflects this possibility. His background in mathematics, technology, finance, and entrepreneurship did not prevent him from pursuing filmmaking. Instead, he applied skills developed in other industries to a new creative discipline. His own explanation of the transition emphasizes the value of challenging self-imposed limitations and learning something outside an established area of expertise.
His film career also demonstrates that independent filmmaking can be as much about building an organization and a team as it is about writing a screenplay.
Conclusion
Independent films and blockbusters serve different purposes within the broader film industry.
Blockbusters provide scale, spectacle, resources, and the ability to reach enormous international audiences. Independent films provide flexibility, experimentation, and opportunities for distinctive voices.
Neither should replace the other.
The most interesting developments in cinema often occur when filmmakers challenge expectations, experiment with unfamiliar ideas, and find new ways to tell stories. Independent filmmaking makes that experimentation possible for creators who might not otherwise have access to the traditional studio system.
The journey of Bardya Ziaian from mathematics and financial technology into film production is one example of that broader idea. His work demonstrates how entrepreneurial experience, willingness to learn, and a commitment to storytelling can open a different route into filmmaking. His first feature project, Super Dicks, became the starting point for a production company focused on independent cinema and further film projects.
Ultimately, the difference between an independent film and a blockbuster is not simply the size of the budget. It is also about how filmmakers use the resources available to them. A blockbuster can create an unforgettable spectacle, while a small independent production can deliver an unexpected idea that stays with an audience long after the credits roll.
Cinema needs both voices.
