Zia Mohajerjasbi is an Iranian-American filmmaker from Seattle, a city that has served as the primary focus of his work. He has shot & directed critically-acclaimed music videos for Macklemore, Blue Scholars, & Jake One, as well as a 2007 mockumentary short with standup comedian Hari Kondabolu, Manoj. In 2009, Zia became the youngest winner ever of the “Genius Award,” presented by The Stranger, a Seattle weekly. In 2015, he wrote and directed the award-winning narrative short film, Hagereseb, and is also the cinematographer and director of an ongoing storytelling series, The Charcoal Sky. In April 2022, Zia's debut feature film Know Your Place, which he wrote and directed, premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival where it was awarded the New American Cinema Grand Jury Prize and the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film.
PRESS:
The Seattle Times | “Award Winning ‘Know Your Place’ Captures a Changing Seattle
Punch Drunk Critics | Review | ‘Know Your Place’
Variety | Seattle International Film Festival Awards Top Honors to ‘Klondike,’ ‘Know Your Place’
IndieWire | ‘Klondike,’ ‘Know Your Place’ Win Big at Seattle International Film Festival
Cascade PBS | Seattle Movie About Loss & Gentrification Debuts at SIFF
The Daily | UW RSO NOMAS Screens UW Alum’s Debut Feature Film ‘Know Your Place’
The Stranger | Seattle’s Beauty Should Not Only be For White People
KUOW | He Met His First Love in Seattle’s South End. He Lost Her There Too
The Stranger | 2009 Stranger Film Genius Zia Mohajerjasbi
The Stranger | He Got Cinema
The Moveable Fest | Zia Mohajerjasbi’s Arresting ‘Know Your Place’ Explores rangera City’s Limits
Seattle Met | Yesler Terrace Comes to the Big Screen in SIFF’s ‘Hagereseb’
The Seattle Globalist | What Seattle is Losing in Yesler Terrace Redevelopment
The Stranger | Zia Mohajerjasbi’s ‘Hagereseb’ Plays Tonight