Andy Sarjahani

Andy Sarjahani is an Iranian-American documentary filmmaker and cinematographer raised in a working class community outside the Arkansas Ozarks. He is interested in people, our relationship to place and how that shapes our worldview. His current work focuses on masculinity, nuance within the American South, threats to democracy, and climate change adaptation. He holds an MS in Sustainable Agriculture/Food Systems and left academia in 2012 to tell stories with a camera. He has worked as a documentary cinematographer for VICE, Al Jazeera, Story Syndicate, and PBS. His personal work has been supported by The New Yorker, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), ITVS, DOC NYC, New Orleans Film Society, Southern Documentary Fund, Reel South, PBS, Arkansas Humanities Council, Asian Doc Network, Video Consortium, and Antenna. His current feature documentary, IRANIAN HILLBILLY was a Southern Documentary Fund 2022 production grant recipient and the winner of New Orleans Film Festival 2022 South Pitch. He is a 2023 CAAM Fellow and 2023 PBS Wyncote Fellow. He regularly watches Thelma and Louise with his devil hound, June.