Rayka Zehtabchi’s career path has been, to put it mildly, anything but ordinary. “Everyone has their own journey,” says Rayka. “Some people’s journey starts at the Oscars when they’re 25 years old.” She’s referring to her stunning documentary “Period. End of Sentence.,” which took home the statue for Best Documentary (Short) at the 2019 Academy Awards when she was still in the early days of her filmmaking career – and made her the first Iranian-American woman to win an Oscar.
“I was really young,” explains Rayka. “I had just left my job as a PA and an Uber driver. It was a very strange out-of-body experience.” But as improbable as the win might have felt to Rayka at the time, it was in no way an overnight success. “It was a project that we’d been working on for years at that point. But I don’t know that we ever thought it was going to be possible to even be a part of the Oscars conversation.”
And while production of the short was a long-won labor of love, the visibility and notoriety associated with that kind of win did come fast and furious – leaving Rayka in need of a reset. “I came away from the Oscars really feeling like I needed to take a step back, and I needed to actually continue to explore my voice as a filmmaker,” she says.
Four years on, Rayka has reemerged as a prolific documentarian with a unique eye for story and craft. We caught up with the filmmaker to learn more about how she found her voice and what keeps her creative fire lit.
When did you know you wanted to be a filmmaker?
Rayka: I was 15, I think. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do in film. I was like, directing sounds fun, producing sounds fun, production design sounds fun. I dabbled in a couple different things while I was going through school. But I think one of the biggest things that happened in my life that really gave me this idea and confidence that I could actually be a filmmaker, was this mentorship program, this film program when I was in high school called Film at Academy of the Arts.
I was really fortunate to have that program because you start to learn about the craft at a really young age, and all of a sudden it doesn’t feel like such a huge mountain to climb. You feel like you can see yourself in that position. I was like, “I want to do this and I don’t want to do anything else.”
You specialize specifically in short documentary. What is it about that medium?
Rayka: Honestly, I love the short format because first of all, there’s a low barrier of entry. You don’t need a huge budget or anything to go out and make a short film. The stakes are not as high. I think what that allows for the artist is more freedom for creativity. More freedom to really explore your voice, and also not be so precious. Go out and try different things.
I think every film that I’ve made is different, or exploring something new. Maybe not so much in the themes, but in the craft is exploring something new. And I think that’s really fun and exciting, and I don’t know that you always get the opportunity to do that so readily with longer form projects.
Your work is often issue-based, but you never sacrifice form for story. How do you balance those?
Rayka: I think my collaborators and I are always thinking about form. How do we push the craft in some way? Especially with documentary, a lot of times what happens is it can start to feel a little formulaic, or you’re leaning more into journalistic sensibilities. So, the craft is sometimes it’s secondary. I think with us it’s like we’re always thinking about how you can put the craft and the storytelling first.
Because the project should feel, technically, really sound. They should take you on a journey. They should be entertaining. They should be a visual feast. So, for us, it’s just filmmaking is the best way that you can infuse all of the art form, along with the humanity. So I feel like every project we do has to have both.
What has your creative life been like in the wake of your Oscar win?
Rayka: I mean, it’s been challenging. It’s been great. It’s been filled with hard times. It’s been filled with growth. But I think it was a necessary step for me to take. You need to take a step back and you need to just shut out all the noise and you need to say, “This is who I am. What do I want? What’s important to me?”
For me, I realized what was so important to me was that emotional connection to what it was that I was doing, whatever that may be. And so, taking a step back really allowed me to look inward, reflect, do the painful, challenging, almost therapy work of figuring out what your voice is, who you want to be, and what kind of projects you really want to put your energy into.
What keeps you going?
Rayka: Honestly, it’s the stories. You think long and hard through the story before you decide that you’re going to go out and make it. Because it takes so much time, and energy, and effort, and emotional energy too. For me personally, even if I’m doing a job, I get really emotionally invested in the project and I don’t say yes to a job unless I feel emotionally connected to the project in some way.
You really have to be driven by the story that you’re telling, the message that you’re putting out into the world, the conversation that you’re putting out into the world. Do you feel like it’s something that you can shoulder for the time that you’re making the film?
You received your first Staff Pick after winning an Oscar – how did it feel?
Rayka: It was a project that my partner Sam [Davis] and I did after the Oscars. After “Period. End a Sentence.” It was this small mockumentary. And it was sort of in response to the spectacle of the Oscars. We were like, “Okay, now we want to do something really small and really fun and quirky and intimate, and how do we just get creative?” And we made a fun project called (SHn(y)o͞of). And that was our first Staff Pick project.
I remember just being so elated, because even though we just came off of the Oscars, it was a project that really just came from our brains. We got so creative and fun and scrappy with. I think our budget was a few hundred dollars. So getting a Staff Pick was really great because it just felt like, you know, got that validation.
How do you use Vimeo in your day to day?
Rayka: I use Vimeo almost every day, in some way. Whether it’s because a friend has sent me a film, or a Staff Pick that’s wonderful and I need to watch it for inspiration. Or because I’m uploading my videos, and using the review tools.
Or if I need to find talent. I mean, I remember I had a project during the pandemic, and I really needed to find an animator who did a really specific style of animation. And I went down the Staff Picks rabbit hole in the animation category. I think I searched through 30 pages or something. And I found an amazing animator who we actually ended up hiring for the project, and I would love to work with again. I use it as a tool, a resource. It’s always in the diet.
What’s your advice for other filmmakers trying to find their voice?
Rayka: I think it’s easier now to make a film than it has ever been. Especially for people who are just starting out. We have so many tools at our disposal, and you really just have to start making stuff and finding really what sticks and what matters to you.
It’s a process. It’s not like it happens overnight. You really have to get to work on it, and spend a good amount of time really discovering what it is that you want to say in the world.
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