Zara Zandieh

Zara Zandieh (they/she) is a Berlin-born director and writer of Iranian heritage. Their work centers queer and post-migrant characters—complex, resilient, and full of contradictions—portrayed with (...) tenderness and depth. Zara’s narrative style blends queer-feminist storytelling with arthouse cinema, inspired by Iranian auteur traditions. Their short films and video-installations have screened in competition at international festivals (BFI FLARE, Berlinale Forum, Oberhausen, Edinburgh, Sheffield DocFest, Inside Out Toronto) and won awards, including the ZONTA Award for Octavia’s Visions. Currently, Zara is in pre-production of their short film Kutchooloo (WT) and developing their queer debut feature In Your Hands (FFA Treatment and Reference Funding 2021/23). Along other features in development Zara is co-developing the feature I Forget You! (WT) with Vic So Hee Alz, (Development Funding by Kuratorium junger deutscher Film). In 2025, Zara directed three episodes of the children and youth’s TV series ECHT friends (ZDF), screened at Max Ophüls Preis 2026. For 15 years, they’ve led film workshops for young (queer) adults. Currently Zara is co-facilitating an Acting Lab within the Asian New Wave Network. Zara studied at filmArche Berlin and holds MAs from UDK Berlin and UEL London. In 2021, they were selected for the Berlinale Talents program. In the same year Zara's video-installation and short film Octavia’s Visions was screened for several months on the facade of the Humboldt Forum Museum Berlin, one of the biggest museums in Germany. Zara has served as a jury member at short film festivals such as XPOSED International Queer Film Festival and British Short Film Festival Berlin and has also participated on various film festival panels as a queer filmmaker of Color. In 2023, Zara was invited by MP Awet Tesfaiesus and Cultural Minister Claudia Roth to a stakeholder meeting at the German Bundestag to advocate for greater diversity and reform of German film funding, specifically for women and filmmakers of Color.