Film Producer Laura Overdeck Brings 'Rule Breakers' to Stevens
Last month, the Stevens community gathered for a screening of the film Rule Breakers, followed by a live discussion with film producer and Bedtime Math founder Laura Overdeck. The film chronicles the true story of Afghanistan’s first all-girls robotics team, charting their extraordinary journey to international competition amid cultural and political resistance. It captures their ingenuity, resilience and belief in education as a pathway to freedom — values that deeply resonate with Stevens’ own commitment to innovation and access in STEM.
During the discussion, Overdeck, who holds an honorary engineering degree from Stevens, described the two guiding principles behind her creative process: head and heart.
“On the heart side, there’s that moment in the film when so many girls express interest in robotics. It’s a reminder that sometimes we don’t realize how many people are waiting to belong in STEM,” she said. As to the “head side,” she added, “I love that we used real robots in the film — real technology, not simulations. It was essential that the robotics felt authentic.”
Overdeck offered insight into the film’s multi-year production, which began in the fall of 2021. The most challenging aspect, she shared, was securing a distributor — a process that stretched over a year before the film reached theaters in March 2025.
When asked whether any scenes had been dramatized, Overdeck was quick to clarify: “It’s not fiction — every astonishing moment you see on screen actually happened.”
She also spoke candidly about how the project reshaped her perspective on education. “Talking to the real-life girls’ robotics team, I was struck by how grateful they are for any opportunity to learn,” she said. “In America, we sometimes take education for granted. In many parts of the world, people would do anything to receive one.”
For aspiring scientists and engineers, especially young women, Overdeck’s advice was deeply personal. “When I studied astrophysics at Princeton, I was the only woman in the major,” she recalled. “Today, that department is half women. It is a sign of progress, but there’s still work to do. We need every great mind contributing to science and engineering. I hope this film shows girls that they can start from zero and still succeed.”
Her reflections were echoed in remarks from Stevens President Nariman Farvardin, who closed the event by connecting the film’s message to the university’s own mission. “This is a story about problem-solving,” he said. “We teach problem-solving at Stevens, but this is problem-solving on a human level. The power of technology is not in the technology itself, but in the hands that shape it — and in the purposes to which it’s applied.”
