Zara Zandieh

Zara Zandieh is a director, filmmaker, and writer born in Berlin. Queer and post-migrant characters often take center stage in Zara’s stories, where they are portrayed as multifaceted, self-ironic, (...) resilient, and complex. These characters are narrated and staged with a great deal of love and tenderness within their contradictions. Zara is inspired by the narrative styles and film languages of arthouse cinema, such as the Iranian cinema language, as well as queer pop culture. Zara’s short films and video installations have been exhibited at various international film festivals, garnering acclaim and receiving awards. They have been the recipient of two working grants from the Berlin Senate to support the development of their creative projects. In 2021, their short Octavia’s Visions, received the ZONTA Prize. Currently, Zara is dedicated to developing fictional projects and revising the screenplay for their queer debut film In Deinen Händen/In Your Hands (working title) following treatment funding and development funding from the FFA (German Federal Film Board). In addition to working on their own projects, Zara has been giving lectures and workshops in film schools and media faculties, and has been working in the field of media education with children and (queer) teenagers and young adults for over 15 years.