Sara Zandieh
Sara Zandieh is an American film director and screenwriter of Iranian descent. She holds an M.F.A. in film directing from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and is a recipient of a Fulbright grant for filmmaking. Zandieh’s 2010 short film The Pool Party won a jury award at the Tribeca Film Festival and she has since expanded into feature films, directing works such as A Simple Wedding, The Other Zoey, and Doin’ It.
Sara Zandieh
- Name
- Sara Zandieh
- Known for
- Short film, Filmmaking, Film director
- Awards
- Fulbright Scholar
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- film director
- Fields
- short film
- Education
- Columbia University School of the Arts
- Honours
- Fulbright Scholarship
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Sara Zandieh is an American film director and screenwriter of Iranian descent. She holds an M.F.A. in film directing from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and is a recipient of a Fulbright grant for filmmaking. Zandieh’s 2010 short film The Pool Party won a jury award at the Tribeca Film Festival and she has since expanded into feature films, directing works such as A Simple Wedding, The Other Zoey, and Doin’ It.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Sara Zandieh. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- unresolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q17022776 · wikipedia · Sara Zandieh
In this article
Biography
Biography
Additionally, in television Zandieh has directed episodes for network and streaming series.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Sara Zandieh • Known for — Short film, Filmmaking, Film director • Awards — Fulbright Scholar
Short films and early projects
Short films and early projects
In 2009, Sara Zandieh entered a story called The Pool Party in the Narrative Magazine 30 Below contest for writers between the ages of 18 and 30. She was among the top ten N30B finalists and a small prize for her effort. In 2010, Zandieh directed The Pool Party. It is a 14-minute short film that was shot in Tehran just before the 2009-2010 Iranian election crisis. It documents the story of a male servant, who must fully repair a pool while acting as a surrogate father to the master's daughter. Zandieh combined social realism with allegory to illustrate the servant's struggle. In 2012, she wrote and directed Reza Hassani Goes to the Mall, starring Maz Jobrani, premiered at Telluride Film Festival and won the Focus Features Best Film Award at Columbia University's festival.
Television
Television
In 2021 and 2022, Zandieh directed two episodes Good Girls and in 2025, she directed an episode of Grosse Pointe Garden Society. She was selected through Universal's Female Forward director program.
Filmography
Filmography
• Handsome Harry (2009) • The Pool Party (2010) • Reza Hassani Goes to the Mall (2012) • A Simple Wedding (2019) • The Other Zoey (2023) • Doin' It (2024)
Feature films
Feature films
In 2018, Zandieh co-wrote and directed her debut feature, A Simple Wedding, an Iranian-American romantic comedy starring Tara Grammy, Rita Wilson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Maz Jobrani, and others. It premiered at the LA Film Festival and later secured a theatrical release via Blue Fox Entertainment. In 2023, she directed The Other Zoey, a romantic comedy film starring Drew Starkey, Josephine Langford, Andie MacDowell, and Heather Graham for Amazon Prime. In 2024, Zandieh co-wrote and directed Doin' It, a comedy starring Lilly Singh as a 30-year-old virgin who becomes a high school sex education teacher. The film premiered at SXSW in 2024 and is set for wide theatrical distribution.
2010 Tribeca Film Festival
2010 Tribeca Film Festival
Zandieh's film was one of 47 short films screened in Lower Manhattan theaters. Like Tal Rosner, Zandieh is a returning director. Amongst other directors premiering films, she competed against Kirsten Dunst. Student kudos went to the winning short, Some Boys Don't Leave, "with special mention going to Sara Zandieh's The Pool Party." On April 29, 2010, The Pool Party was shown at the Columbia University School of the Arts' 23rd Annual Film Festival.
Awards
Zandieh won a 2009-2010 grant from the Fulbright Program, one of the most widely recognized international exchange programs in the world. She was one of 84 students from the United States selected by the United States Department of State for placements abroad, and was assigned to Turkey as a filmmaking student.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Sara Zandieh is recorded as having received Fulbright Scholarship.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
37,515 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Sara RuePerson
- Sara SálamoPerson
- Sara SugarmanPerson
- Sara TakatsukiPerson
- Sarah Adina SmithPerson
- Sarah AdlerPerson
- Sarah AllenPerson
- Sarah BiasiniPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Sara Zandieh?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.