JUMP GLOBAL MEDIA ACQUIRES FILM AND TELEVISION RIGHTS TO "THE EMPRESS AND I"

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Jump Global Media Group UK Ltd. (Jump GMG), a multi-platform entertainment company chaired by Aric Ackerman, has announced the acquisition of The Empress and I, an acclaimed and controversial memoir by Donna Stein.

The Empress and I recounts how a young American curator advised the Iranian Monarchy in acquiring the most significant and valuable collection of modern art in the Global South. From 1975 to 1977 Ms. Stein was Western Art Advisor to the Shahbanou of Iran's Private Secretariat during the reign of Empress Farah Pahlavi. The masterpieces Donna Stein selected are now worth billions of dollars and rest in the vaults of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. She wrote The Empress and I to shine a light on a unique moment in history that few understand.

"I am excited to bring Donna's story to a broader audience," says Jump CEO Aric Ackerman. "When Donna's memoir was published by Skira in 2021, the New York Times reported: "It tells two interlocking stories: one of a rule-driven, hierarchical, often-dysfunctional bureaucracy that bought Western art at surprisingly reasonable prices for a monarchy flush with oil money; another of the daily life of an unmarried young American woman in Old Regime Tehran." The Art Newspaper said her book was "laden with period glamour, political intrigue and eye-catching art."

Ackerman believes Ms. Stein's story is both timely, and cinematic. "It reveals an important hidden chapter in diplomacy and fine arts that is set against the backdrop of a monarchy on the brink of revolution. The Empress and I is about courage, conviction, money and culture," he contends. "It's also about a woman with no official agency in a male-dominated foreign society, who was able to conceive and implement an acquisition strategy that created what Bloomberg News called 'the greatest collection of modern art you've never seen.' Donna's amazing adventure, set against a backdrop of infighting among members of the Royal Court, will make a compelling movie or streaming series."

ABOUT JUMP GLOBAL:

Jump GMG is a multi-vertical entertainment company focused on producing resonant stories across film, television, digital, and live experiences. The company is committed to championing visionary storytellers and transformative narratives.

SOURCE Jump Global Technology Advisors