KNOW YOUR PLACE - DEBUT FEATURE FILM

I wrote and directed my first feature film, Know Your Place, which had its World Premiere on April 17, 2022 at the Seattle International Film Festival where it was awarded The Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film and The Grand Jury Prize in the New American Cinema Competition. Years of learning, creating, collaborating and building from the days of Blue Scholars and Hidmo, to Hagereseb and The Charcoal Sky, along with countless other milestones, relationships and experiences led to both the genesis and completion of this project. In some moments I am still in awe that this film exists. It took everything. I’m so grateful to the community that rallied tirelessly in an effort to bring this to the screen. Below are the synopsis and some frames from Know Your Place (Photographed by longtime collaborator Nicholas Wiesnet).

Robel Haile, an Eritrean-American boy of 15, embarks on an errand to deliver a huge and heavy suitcase across town destined for a sick family member in his parents' homeland. He enlists the help of his best friend Fahmi Tadesse, when an unexpected turn transmutes his simple task into an odyssey across the rapidly gentrifying city of Seattle; navigating directions to make his delivery on time, along with the challenges of familial responsibility, self identification, and dislocation amid the ongoing redevelopment and economic displacement of the only community he's ever known as home.

LINKEDIN - “BUSINESS EVERYWHERE” COMMERCIAL

Had a splendid time directing this piece for LinkedIn in Vancouver, BC.

PAPER - “TUTORING FOR ALL”

Had the pleasure of DP’ing this campaign for longtime friend and collaborator Marty Martin.

THE CHARCOAL SKY - STORYTELLING SERIES

The Charcoal Sky is an evolving narrative library captured through experiential storytelling. For the first collection of stories, 7 in all, I worked with folks to hone and share a story from lived experience(s) that could be captured in a way that blurs the line between more “traditional” documentary aesthetics and narrative cinema. This project is close to my heart, and I plan to expand it in the future.

Director/Cinematographer/Editor.

ZIA MOHAJERJASBI - CINEMATOGRAPHY REEL

A montage of images captured over the past few years.

NIKE ‘WHY NOT YOU’ - COMMERCIAL

Production Company: Society
Director/DP: Zia Mohajerjasbi
Editor: Marty Martin

PREMERA Blue scross ‘first step’ - COMMERCIAL

2022 clio sports - bronze winning entry

Agency: Copacino Fujikado
Production Company: Speakeasy
Director: Zia Mohajerjasbi
DP: Nicholas Wiesnet
Editor: Kelly Vanderlinda

HAGERESEB - SHORT FILM + TRAILER

It's 1997 in Seattle's Yesler Terrace, and 10-year-old Abai is on a quest to find fresh batteries for his Casio keyboard for one last music lesson with his older brother Sam before seeing him sent back to their native Eritrea, indefinitely. 

Hagereseb takes place 56 years after Yesler Terrace became the country’s first racially-integrated public housing project, and nearly 20 years before its demolition began

First short film written and directed by yours truly. Full film and credits at the Youtube link below.

MACKLEMORE “THE TOWN” MUSIC VIDEO

Director/Cinematographer/Editor

BLUE SCHOLARS “JOE METRO” MUSIC VIDEO

Director/Cinematographer/Editor