From Netflix to Hulu to the big screen, director Rayka Zehtabchi is no stranger to multiple platforms for her work. But the platform that remains singularly constant relative to the Oscar winner’s professional endeavors is one rooted in a sense of purpose spanning engagement and activism on social issues, including gender equality. This has marked both her independent filmmaking and more recent work in the branded content arena.
A couple of months after winning the Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar in 2019 for Period. End of Sentence (Netflix), Zehtabchi joined PRETTYBIRD for commercials and branded content. She has since directed several notable projects, including a mini-documentary centered on nine Special Olympics athletes gathered for a three-day workshop in Orlando, Fla., where they teamed with professional designers from ad agency Publicis Seattle to create a logo and look for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. Zehtabchi’s film captures the positive impact of the creative process as well as the spirit and talent of the athletes.
Shortly after the release of that Special Olympics piece, Zehtabchi told SHOOT that it underscored why she decided to join PRETTYBIRD. “Aside from being an incredible company producing meaningful, cool work, PRETTYBIRD understands me as a filmmaker and where I want to go. They don’t go after just any job. They tailor it to you and your voice as a filmmaker. I’m looking for a larger message, something with some sort of activism behind it. If I’m directing commercials or any work as a filmmaker, it has to be for projects that mean something, that matter.”
That understanding of what fuels Zehtabchi extends to PRETTYBIRD’s sister company, Ventureland, a creative studio which focuses on developing entertainment properties and original IP alongside leading filmmakers, studios and brands. Via Ventureland, Zehtabchi directed the short film Ours to Tell which screened this past January at the Sundance Film Festival as part of a Planned Parenthood: Storytelling as Activism panel discussion. Ours to Tell centers on four people who live full and empowered lives because they were free to access abortion. Actor, writer, and comedian Natasha Rothwell narrates the film which showcases what is at stake for many and, importantly, what many more have never had–the capacity to control their own bodies, and thus the power to decide their own futures. Ours to Tell spotlights what it means to a person’s future to have bodily autonomy and urges a call for compassion and self-determination. The film rolled out as the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision marked its 47th anniversary.
Now most recently, Zehtabchi has again teamed with Ventureland–as well as agencies Digitas and Vox Creative–on A Woman’s Place, a documentary short for the KitchenAid brand. The brand takes a backseat in this project, letting the narrative speak for itself–so much so that the 30-minute documentary is streaming on Hulu on the merits of it being able to entertain as well as enlighten audiences.
Through the stories of three inspiring chefs who are pushing for change, A Woman’s Place explores the biases and barriers woman encounter in the culinary industry.
The film shares a sobering statistic from an Office of U.S. Labor study which found that despite women accounting for half of culinary school graduates, they hold just seven percent of executive chef roles in the U.S. A Woman’s Place was created with the goal of supporting and empowering women in culinary pursuits to bridge the gap as they strive to become leaders in the industry.
Zehtabchi is no stranger to breaking barriers. On the strength of Period. End of Sentence she became the first Iranian-American woman to receive an Academy Award. The short chronicled the impact of The Period Project, which was responsible for installing a manual feminine hygiene pad machine in the rural village of Kathikhera, located outside of Delhi, India. The machine not only manufactured affordable, biodegradable pads for the girls and women of the village, but it also produced a microeconomy, enabling young women to use the funds earned to further their education.
The Period Project originated from a teacher, Melissa Berton, and her students at the Oakwood School in North Hollywood, who were inspired to take action after learning about the taboo surrounding menstruation in developing countries.
A Woman’s Place
Zehtabchi was drawn to A Woman’s Place in large part by a kinship she felt for the film’s three featured women:
- Marielle Fabie, who grew up always lending a hand in the kitchen–whether it was helping her single mother cook for the family or helping her dad run his food truck–yet faced a double standard from her family, refusing to see cooking as anything but a hobby when she showed interest in culinary school. The disadvantages Fabie experienced as a woman of color have only fueled her ambition; she works tirelessly to be the best at what she does. Today, her success has finally proven to her parents that cooking is a viable and sustainable career for women.
- Etana Diaz, who began her career as a pastry chef and a line cook in fine dining, but found her true love for butchery after discovering that pastry wasn’t her passion. Diaz proves that her dedication and drive outweigh her size and gender. She approaches meat cutting with creativity, ethics and knowledge and is proud to be a “Lady Butcher.”
- And Karyn Tomlinson, who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in France, and on her first day on the job was told to go to the front of house for service. While her interest was in savory cuisine, she began working her way up through opportunities in pastry where she grew creatively. None of it discouraged her from pursuing her dream of becoming a head chef, and eventually she found herself at the helm of a kitchen. In 2018 she became the first solo woman to win Grand Cochon, a national whole hog cook-off. Today, she faces new challenges as she embarks on the complex process of opening Myriel, her first restaurant, during a pandemic.
“I felt a real connection to them,” related Zehtabchi. “The subjects are fairly young women who have gone through a challenging industry and worked hard to get themselves to a place where they feel somewhat content, safe and supported in their work environment. They mirrored a lot of the experiences I dealt with working in the film industry.”
Making this a dream assignment were the attitude and mindset of the brand, KitchenAid, and agency collaborators from Digitas and Vox Creative. “KitchenAid was very keen on making a documentary film,” said Zehtabchi. “There was no interest in shooting product or seeing the logo. The film was solely about these women and their experiences, the biases they faced. They wanted a filmmaker on the project to tell the story, to do justice to the story.”
And with two agencies involved along with a client, the norm might be for the director to feel like she was answering to different groups with their own agendas. Rather, though, Zehtabchi noted that she enjoyed “creative autonomy” on A Woman’s Place. “In making the film, at no stage did I feel my vision wasn’t being heard.” She added that the creative team was wonderful with their prime motivation being “all about the art. It was a really good experience.”
The lesson learned from this experience, observed Zehtabchi, is that if a brand is willing to relinquish an element of control, trust the filmmakers and show it is aligned with the cause, the door opens up “more and more for these projects to pop up and live on these big platforms (like Hulu).”
Hulu also provided a supportive programming environment for A Woman’s Place. Subscribers can visit the “Women’s Equality” collection on the Hulu platform to watch the film alongside more than 50 TV shows and movies that honor diverse women trailblazers in their field and reflect on progress made in the fight for equality for all women.
Pandemic post
Zehtabchi was grateful that shooting for A Woman’s Place wrapped a couple of weeks prior to the COVID-19 lockdown. However, postproduction of the doc. during the pandemic had its share of challenges, Helping greatly was that she and her cinematographer and editor Sam A. Davis reside together so were able to collaborate directly on A Woman’s Place during the quarantine. The two have been longstanding close-knit colleagues with Davis working on all of her projects since they left film school. For example, Davis shot and cut Period. End of Sentence, and co-directed with Zehtabchi the film Just Hold On, which recently won the Texas Shorts honor at the virtual SXSW Film Festival.
A Woman’s Place added to the education Zehtabchi has gotten from the branded space. “The ad world moves a lot faster,” she said, referring to “pretty crazy” turnaround times. Zehtabchi had to wrap her head around making a documentary on such a timeline yet having it feel authentic. Zehtabchi observed that with Period. End of Sentence she had more time to discover and mold the story. By contrast, in the branded world, “you have to go in knowing the story, treating it in some respects as a fiction film. You try to massage it and get it to a place that feels organic, that doesn’t feel staged. I’ve definitely learned a lot (working in branded content). It’s sharpened my directing skills in fiction.”
Zehtabchi added that she and Davis wanted A Woman’s Place to be a visually elevated film, a sensory experience that felt very filmic. “That’s something I’m going to take away with me working on other branded content pieces. I appreciate documentaries that feel flimic and cinematic, that take you on this journey and have the opportunity to live on a major platform.”
As for what’s next, Zehtabchi and Davis are currently finishing up a narrative short film. And there could be some feature-length projects in the offing. Zehtabchi has been building a varied filmography over the years. Her directorial debut, Mandaran, followed an Iranian mother deliberating whether or not to spare the life of her son’s killer. The bold film was shot entirely in Farsi and won honors, including a Jury Award for Best Director at the 2016 HollyShorts Festival.
