Rayka Zehtabchi

DirectorProducerExecutive ProducerWriter

Rayka Zehtabchi is an Oscar-winning Iranian-American director based in Los Angeles. Her directorial debut, Madaran, is an Iranian language short that won Jury awards at top film festivals and qualified for the 89th Academy Awards in 2016. She won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the 91st Academy Awards for Period. End of Sentence., a documentary 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. Along with the film’s release, Rayka helped co-found the non-profit “The Pad Project” to fight the stigma of menstruation and improve feminine hygiene worldwide. Rayka’s passion is telling human stories that bring awareness and action to little-known social causes. In both documentary and narrative, she brings a naturalistic approach to her storytelling, striving for honesty and intimacy on screen.

01-01-1994

Birthday

Capricorn

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Also known as (female)

Place of Birth

01-01-1994

Birthday

Capricorn

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Also Known As (female)

Place of Birth

Popular works

Media

Creative career

actor

0 Works

producer

7 Works

director

20 Works

writer

2 Works

other

1 Works

The Singers

A genre-bending short film inspired by a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden men connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off.

0.0

Year:

2025

You Know Where to Find Me

Frankie's waited for this day for 23 years. With his mom's help, he packs up everything he owns and sets out to start a new life alone. But the euphoria of newfound independence is short-lived, and as the dust settles and night falls on his new apartment, he misses his mom.

2.0

Year:

2023

The Old Young Crow

An Iranian boy befriends an old Japanese woman at a graveyard in Tokyo.

7.2

Year:

2023

Long Line of Ladies

A girl and her community prepare for her Ihuk, the once-dormant coming of age ceremony of the Karuk tribe of Northern California.

5.0

Year:

2022

(SHn(y)o͞of)

Bill and Tonya Martin don't speak English anymore. This is the story of Martinese.

6.0

Year:

2019

Period. End of Sentence.

In an effort to improve feminine hygiene, a machine that creates low-cost biodegradable sanitary pads is installed in a rural village in Northern India. Using the machine, a group of local women is employed to produce and sell pads, offering them newfound independence and helping to destigmatize menstruation for all.

7.8

Year:

2018

Madaran

An Iranian mother must decide whether to end or spare the life of her son's killer.

0.0

Year:

2016