Rayka Zehtabchi
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.
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Movies (14)
Los cantores rusos
2026 · Executive Producer
You Know Where to Find Me
2023 · Producer
The Old Young Crow
2023 · Executive Producer
Long Line of Ladies
2022 · Director, Producer
Are You Still There?
2021 · Director, Writer
A Woman's Place
2020 · Director
Just Hold On
2020 · Director
Ours to Tell
2020 · Director
(SHn(y)o͞of)
2019 · Director, Producer
Mammoth
2018 · Assistant Director
We Home
2018 · Director
Period. End of Sentence.
2018 · Producer, Director
Madaran
2016 · Director, Writer, Co-Producer
They Came From All Over
· Director
