The first Iranian woman to win an Oscar, Rayka Zehtabchi is a director and producer working in both documentary and fiction. Her passion lies in telling intimate, human stories that shed light on little-known social causes and communities. Rayka’s Oscar-winning Netflix short Period. End of Sentence. is about a group of village women in Northern India who start a sanitary pad-making business in an effort to improve feminine hygiene and de-stigmatize menstruation.
Rayka’s long form branded films include United O for the Special Olympics, A Woman’s Place for KitchenAid, and They Came From All Over for Meta. Her branded short documentary Long Line of Ladies, which was made in partnership with The Pad Project, was distributed by the NYT and awarded a Cannes Lion in 2023.
Outside of branded work, Rayka’s films Madaran, (SHn(y)o͞of), Just Hold On, Are You Still There?, have received numerous Vimeo Staff Picks and have screened and won Jury awards at festivals such as Sundance, SXSW and AFI Fest.
In 2024, Rayka directed her first episode of television on the longstanding Netflix documentary series Chef’s Table. Most recently, Rayka joined the Director’s Guild of America as well as the Academy as a voting member in the short film branch. A versatile storyteller, Rayka continues to work in documentary and fiction, pushing the boundaries of each form with every project she helms.
