Sara Zandieh is an

Iranian American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are Americans, United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian peoples, Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian Multiple citizenship, citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the U ...

filmmaker whose film, ''The Pool Party'', won second place at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

. It received a Special Jury Mention. Zandieh is a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Works

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 won $100 for her effort. In 2010, Zandieh directed ''The Pool Party''. It is a 14-minute

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

that was shot in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

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 Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

with

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

to illustrate the servant's struggle.

2010 Tribeca Film Festival

Zandieh's film was one of 47 short films screened in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

theaters. Like

Tal Rosner Tal Rosner (; born in Jerusalem, 9 June 1978) is a London-based Israeli filmmaker and video artist. Career In May 2008, Rosner won a BAFTA for Best Title Sequence for the E4 teen drama Skins at the British Academy Television Craft Awards. Sin ...

, Zandieh is a returning director. Amongst other directors premiering films, she competed against

Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the anthology film ''New York Stories'' (1989) and has since starred in several film and television productions. She has received several awar ...

. 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 The Columbia University School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York (state), New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, ...

' 23rd Annual Film Festival.

Awards

Zandieh won a 2009-2010 grant from the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

. This program is the "most widely recognized and prestigious international exchange program in the world." She is one of 40

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

students chosen and listed with the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

as being a

filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

student from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Filmography

* ''Handsome Harry'' (2009) * ''The Pool Party'' (2010) * ''

A Simple Wedding ''A Simple Wedding'' is a 2018 American romantic comedy film directed by Sara Zandieh and starring Tara Grammy, Christopher O'Shea, Rita Wilson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Maz Jobrani and Houshang Touzie. A young Iranian-American woman, while trying ...

'' (2019) * ''

The Other Zoey ''The Other Zoey'' is a 2023 American romantic comedy film directed by Sara Zandieh and written by Matt Tabak. The film stars Josephine Langford, Drew Starkey, Archie Renaux, Mallori Johnson, Patrick Fabian, Heather Graham and Andie MacDowell. ...

'' (2023) *'' Doin' It'' (2024)

References

External links

*
''The Pool Party''

, Retrieved: 2010-05-16. * * https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-zandieh {{DEFAULTSORT:Zandieh, Sara American people of Iranian descent American women film directors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Columbia University School of the Arts alumni 21st-century American women