Rayka Zehtabchi

AFS Film: Long Line of Ladies; A Woman’s Place

Rayka Zehtabchi is an Iranian-American director and producer. Her Oscar-winning Netflix short documentary, Period. End of Sentence. is about a group of village women in Northern India who start a sanitary pad-making business in an effort to improve feminine hygiene and de-stigmatize menstruation. Rayka has also directed multiple branded documentaries including United O, They Came From All Over, and A Woman’s Place, which can be seen on Hulu. Her most recent short documentary, Long Line of Ladies, follows a girl and her community as they prepare for her Ihuk, the once-dormant coming of age ceremony of the Karuk tribe of Northern California. Additionally, Rayka’s films (SHn(y)oof), Just Hold On, and Are You Still There? have collectively received Vimeo Staff Picks and won Jury awards at prestigious festivals such as SXSW and Sundance. She continues to work in both doc and fiction, pushing the boundaries of each form with every project she helms.