A Simple Wedding from director Sara Zandieh earned widespread praise for its levity and charm combined with representation of Iranian culture on the silver screen.
“It felt like a good time to make a movie with a tremendous heart,” Zandieh tells Tonya Mantooth of the San Diego International Film Festival. “To tell a story that celebrates human universals of love and family.”
Sara Zandieh dove headfirst into film
Zandieh’s first venture into film was The Pool Party, shot in Tehran in 2010. It tells the story of a male servant who is placed in a paternal position to his master’s daughter.
“I had a lot of questions about my Iranian identity,” Zandieh tells AWFJ. “And I really wanted to go back home [to Iran] and try making a film there.” The Pool Party won an award at the Tribeca Film Festival that year. Next, Zandieh made another award-winning short film starring Maz Jobrani called Reza Hassani Goes to the Mall.
Before filmmaking, Zandieh specialized in journalism. She worked in that field for three years after graduating college. Through the Fulbright Scholarship Program, funded by the United States Department of State, Zandieh attended Columbia University’s graduate filmmaking program. Now, a few years later, Zandieh is working on another script after a successful film and just contributed to an episode of NBC’s Good Girls.
Sara Zandieh diversifies the stories seen and told
While Zandieh was born in Iran, her family moved to Maryland when she was only four years old. Through her films, in particular The Simple Wedding, she has explored her Iranian-American identity and stories outside of the Hollywood convention.
“When I started film school, I was thinking, ‘How can I make my stories more white? How can I make them more mainstream? And more American?..” she says in an interview. “And now I feel more proud and encouraged to share the stories that are specific to me.”
Sara Zandieh’s star-studded cast and quality script received a lot of praise
A Simple Wedding is Zandieh’s first feature-length film. It tells the story of an Iranian-American woman living in LA. While working as a lawyer, she faces pressure from her family to settle down. When she falls for a non-Persian, things get even more complex.
The film stars Tara Grammy, Iranian-Canadian comedian, actress, and playwright, and renowned The Expanse actress Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Rita Wilson and Maz Jobrani also join the star-studded cast. Douglas Davidson of Elements of Madness praises the cast in particular, along with the screenplay, saying “what’s particularly wonderful about the case is how they bring out the positive aspects in the writing.”
“This was a story that showed our normal life, this family life as people facing the same challenges that ‘normal’ Americans face – not like political ragamuffins,” Zandieh explains to AWFJ. “Iranians are so politicized and we have a wonderful culture, and unfortunately we get buried under the tense political climate.”
Watch A Simple Wedding here.
