RESS. TALKS. PANELS
BBC World Service
Pick of the World
Sahar’s documentary ‘Becoming Dragon’ selected.
A programme where, each week, the BBC celebrates the most engaging audio and video from programmes and podcasts.
2022 - Featured
Iran International TV
Farda
Panel discussion on the Farsi-speaking channel, about the role of women and youth in Iran’s protests, with Melika Balali, Omid Shams and Safoora Mashayekhi.
2022 - Live TV Panel
Iran International TV
NEWS
On the flagship news programme of the Farsi-speaking Channel, discussing Khamenei’s reponse to student strikes in Iran’s protests.
2022 - Live TV Interview
Iran International TV
NEWS
On the flagship news programme of the Farsi-speaking Channel, discussing the significane of the women-led protests in Iran, following the death of Mahsa Amini.
2022 - Live TV Interview
The Frontline Club
SCREENING & PANEL DISCUSSION
The Bafta-winning ITV Exposure strand examines the lucrative trade capitalising upon myths surrounding women's virginity and goes undercover to investigate the clinics making money from so-called virginity testing and repair procedures that campaigners condemn as a violation of human rights. Reporter Sahar Zand, campaigner Payzee Mahmod, and moderator Mellissa Fung discuss how this documentary has played a part in changing the law.
2022 - Panelist
MEDIA AWARDS
Gaby Rado Award: Open to journalists reporting on human rights issues who have been working for five years or less in paid employment as a journalist. This award was established with the help of the family, friends, and colleagues of the journalist Gaby Rado, who died in Iraq in 2003.
2022 - Jury Member
Amnesty International
Iran International TV
Farda
Panel discussion on the Farsi-speaking channel, on democracy and freedom of expression, with Melika Zaar, Iqan Shahidi and Safoora Moloud Hajizadeh.
2022 - Live TV Interview
Women in Journalism
EVENTS
2022 - Featured
Diploma in Creative Media Production
Teaching different stages of multimedia documentary making.
2022 - Guest Lecturer
Leeds City Collage
A Turning Point
Alongside speakers including Nicole Jacobs - Domestic Abuse Commisioner, Pauline Latham OBE MP, Richard Holden MP, Diana Nammi, Executive Director, IKWRO, and Mr Ashfaq Khan, leading gynaecologist and obstetrician, Sahar Zand gives a passionate talk at the UK’s historic moment in the movement to end “honour” based abuse, as we are on the verge of banning the harmful practices of child marriage, virginity testing and hymenoplasty.
2021 - Speaker
Iranian Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation
Amnesty International
A LEADING GLOBAL AFFAIRS THINK TANK
For its 60th anniversary, ODI invited Sahar Zand, alongside other prominent activists, politicians and experts, including the former prime minister of New Zealand, the Mayor of Freetown in Sierra Leone, and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, to explore and share ideas around the practical steps required to create more resilient and equal societies.
2021 - Speaker
ODI
World Press Freedom
“Our work is about giving a platform to the voices that wouldn’t otherwise be heard. If we don’t have the tools to deal with and identify our own issues, how can we do that with others?”
Sahar Zand expands on the importance of trauma support for freelance journalists and filmmakers.
2021 - Featured
Voice of America
MENA REPRESENTATION IN THE MEDIA
As part of a special series of interviews with artists, journalists, actors, directors and photographers from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Sahar was asked about her thoughts and experiences concerning the demographic’s representation within the media.
2021 - Interview
Identity International
NEWSROOM
At the newsroom of Manoto TV, Sahar Zand discusses the Covid-19 restrictions imposed in the UK, and the potential consequences of UK politician Dominic Cummings breaking them.
2020 - Live TV Interview
Manoto TV
MY FIGHT, MY STORY
Interview with the Persian-language podcast which features successful Iranian women to talk about their journey.
2021 - Interview
Podcast
A JOURNALIST WHO TRAVELS THE WORLD - HER STORIES MAKE HISTORY
An interview for Medium, an online open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking.
2020 - Featured
Medium
Ariana Magazine
NEWSROOM
Sahar Zand was invited to provide commentary on the BLM movement in London and the US for the Iranian audience of Manoto TV - the London-based Persian-speaking channel with over 50 million viewers worldwide.
2020 - Live TV interview
Manoto TV
DEFENDING MEDIA FREEDOM
A panel discussion - Staying Independent, Impartial and Free.
Threats to media freedom are increasing worldwide and journalists and filmmakers are facing the risk of imprisonment for holding power to account. With hundreds of reporters currently in prison, we will hear first-hand about the fight to release them, as well as setting out what needs to happen to protect other reporters navigating restrictions and threats.
2019 - Panellist
One World Media
For the first time in its 14 year history, the Afghanistan TV talent competition Afghan Star has been won by a woman. Journalist Sahar Zand discusses the status of music and women in a country still recovering from the authoritarian rule of the Taliban, who banned music and severely restricted women's rights.
2019 - LIVE interview
BBC Radio 4
RTS
SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION
Nicaragua’s president Ortega has launched a crackdown on the independent media in a country gripped by civil disruption and economic chaos. Sahar Zand meets the journalists risking a beating or worse to get their stories out, and others who have decided the only way to survive is to flee.
2019 - Panelist
Frontline Club
UNREPORTED WORLD PODCAST
In a conversation with the podcast host Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Sahar Zand talks about the making of ‘Censored’, her documentary filmed in Nicaragua, where journalists risk their lives in the midst of President Daniel Ortega's crackdown on the media and opposition.
2019 - Interview
Channel 4
The Independent
VOICES
“The memory of what it feels like to cry out for help only for your voice to disappear has stayed with me for years. That’s why I’ve dedicated my life to amplifying the voices of people who don’t get to tell their stories.”
2019 - Featured
PICK OF THE WEEK
We visit an Afghan version of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ and we hear how a royal baby creates a right royal stir live on air. We find out how music offers release for prison inmates, and gives a voice to Afghani women silenced by the Taliban. Louis Theroux finds himself at the other side of the microphone, we get tucked up for a late night chat with Jane Horrocks.
2019 - Interview
BBC Radio 4
MAKING FACTUAL TELEVISION
At the world’s largest multi-genre video event, which gathers thousands of online video viewers, creators, and industry representatives from all over the globe. Sahar Zand spoke to hundreds of attendees about the process of making documentaries, from idea development and pitching, all the way through to the final broadcast.
2019 - Panellist
VidCon UK
BROADCAST JOURNALISM
Lecturing masters students about broadcast journalism, with a focus on the art of storytelling and documentary-film making.
2019 - Guest Lecturer
UAL
DIGE CHE KHABAR
In the Iranian version of ‘Have I Got News for You’ for one of the most-watched Persian-speaking channels in the world, celebrity contestants find themselves in the hot seat as they are quizzed on the latest news.
2019 - Panellist
Manoto TV
Iran International
SADEGH SABA SHOW
In the weekly arts and cultures program for London-based Persian speaking channel Iran International, Sahar Zand talks about some of her latest projects.
2019 - TV Interview
Manoto TV
FEATURES
Alice Young speaks to Sahar Zand about her journey from refugee to award-winning reporter.
2019 - Featured
Yorkshire Voice
SAMTE NO
Appearing as a guest on the Iranian version of ‘Loose Women’ for Manoto TV, Sahar Zand speaks about working as a female journalist in conflict zones around the world.
2019 - LIVE TV Interview
Manoto TV
MBN - South Korea
Y FORUM
Hosted by Maeil Broadcasting Network (MBN) under Maekyung Media Group, one of South Korea's leading economic media groups, MBN Y Forum is a platform to discuss the major issues, ideas, and trends of politics, economy, technology, leading industries, and media. As a guest speaker, Sahar Zand spoke to over 6,000 attendees about her career in journalism, and the diverse challenges she has overcome in her personal life.
2018 - Speaker
GLOBAL
Matthew Amroliwala and Sahar Zand discuss the making of her documentary Madness of War.
2018 - LIVE TV Interview
BBC
UNREPORTED WORLD PODCAST
In a conversation with Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Sahar Zand takes the audience behind the scenes of her film in Mauritania, where some communities believe that the fatter girls look, the wealthier and more attractive they appear to men.
2018 - Interview
Channel 4
HERE & NOW
The BBC's Sahar Zand has visited Afghanistan's only high-security psychiatric facility, and she speaks with Here & Now's Lisa Mullins about how constant conflict has taken a terrible toll on the state of mental health in the country. This BBC interview can be heard in the Here & Now podcast or with the WBUR app.
2018 - Interview
NPR
MAIL ONLINE
The West African nation where girls are forced to consume up to 16,000 calories a day by their mothers during 'feeding season' – to make them 'beautiful' for men. For Channel 4's Unreported World, Sahar Zand travels to the West African nation of Mauritania and discovers how girls have to partake in a 'feeding season'.
2018 - Featured
Daily Mail
Critic’s Choice
Sahar Zand travels to Mumbai to witness the effects of #MeToo on Bollywood. She meets the superstar Richa Chadda, who has spoken out against sexual assault in the film industry, and follows a young actor who feels that by going public about a casting director’s predatory behaviour she has damaged her career. There are signs the silence and shame are lifting, however, not least through a TV show called Troll Police.
2018 - Featured
The Times
MBN - South Korea
BE A NEW CHAMPION
As part of the annual MBN conference held in Seoul, Sahar Zand chairs this panel delivered to luminaries from around the world, from footballers and actors to philosophers and former politicians.
2018 - Panelist
A JOURNEY HOME
The woman-focused NGO, based in Copenhagen, held an event aimed to spread awareness on the experiences of refugee women, influential woman from a range of professional backgrounds spoke to the audience about their experiences as refugees, and their hard-trodden roads to success.
2018 - Speaker
The Soulfuls
MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS FUELED BY WAR
Afghanistan has only one high-security psychiatric facility, where many of the patients are often chained and sedated. The Red Crescent Secure Psychiatric Institution houses almost 300 patients considered to be the "most dangerous," says Sahar Zand, a reporter for the BBC who reported from the facility in Herat, the third-largest city in the country.
2018 - Featured
NPR
BA (Hons) Content, Media & Film Production
Over a 12-week course, Sahar Zand teaches undergraduate students the process of documentary-making. ScreenSpace is a partnership between MetFilm School and the University of West London, delivering industry-led, practical undergraduate degree courses. Immersed in creative industry practice, the course is taught by tutors who are working as media professionals.
2018 - Guest Lecturer
SCREEN SPACE
WHAT REMAINS OF WAR
Filmmaker Sahar Zand heads into Afghanistan to explore how its citizens are coping with mental traumas after decades of violence.
2018 - Featured
The Hindu
WORLD
Scars Visible & Invisible: Journalist Sahar Zand recounts her experiences in war-ravaged Afghanistan, where she made the documentary ‘Madness of War’, in which she explores the country’s mental illness epidemic.
2018 - Featured
The Quint
KHODEMOONI SHOW
A Persian-speaking channel broadcast from London, Sahar is a regular guest discussing social and political topics on the show.
Guest | LIVE TV Interview
Sat7 Pars
The Independent
NEWSHOUR
There is a tradition in Nepal of worshipping young girls who are believed to be the living manifestation of Hindu gods, and the most recent to be anointed is three-year-old Trishna Shakya. The girls, known as Kumaris, are usually selected between the ages of two and four, and are considered divine until they reach puberty. The BBC's Sahar Zand made a documentary about the Kumaris, and explained more about the practice.
2017 - Interview
BBC World Service
THE BLOG
Most of us don't like to think or talk about death, but there are some people who do. In the Toraja region of Sulawesi, in Indonesia, the dead are a constant part of day-to-day life. Sahar Zand has visited this extraordinary place, where the line between this world and the next is blurred.
2017 - Featured
The Huffington Post
RADIO FEATURE AWARD
The International Features Conference is held across the world, and brings together talented feature makers to discuss each others’ work, and to share ideas, experience and expertise, as well as to showcase the finest feature-making from around Europe and the world.
2017 - Jury Member - Long-form Radio Documentaries
IFC - Stockholm
BBC WORLD SERVICE
2017 - Interview
FEATURES
A new BBC World documentary throws light on the Torajan tradition, where families live with the corpses of their loved ones.
2017 - Featured
The Indian Express
ACADEMY
In conversation with Sahar Zand about documentary production.
BBC Academy is the educational arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation which trains current and prospective broadcasting employees in the skills of the Broadcasting industry.
2017 - Interview
BBC
TRENDING
An ethnic group in Indonesia has conversations with the embalmed bodies of their loved ones. BBC’s Sahar Zand has been to the villages scattered around Rantepao, the capital town of Toraja, to find out more.
2017 - Featured
DNA India
BBC Persian Service
PERSIAN SERVICE
As part of the 100 Women season, Sahar Zand travels to Nepal to find out if the practice of worshipping pre-pubescent girls as goddesses empowers women or demeans them.
2016 - Featured
AFGHANISTAN: WOMEN NEWS AGENCY
With the aim of inspiring young aspirational women in Afghanistan, Sahar Zand was interviewed about her journey in overcoming diversity.
2016 - Featured
AWNA
CREATIVE CHALLENGE
As a past winner, Sahar Zand elaborates on the process behind developing an abstract brief into a engaging story that achieves viral success across different platforms.
2016 - Speaker
BBC World Service
NEWS DESK
For centuries the Berber men of North Africa have proved their worth in the high octane, dangerous sport of Fantasia. But now for the first time, women have been taking them on… and winning! Sahar Zand travelled to Morocco to meet the girls of Fantasia.
2016 - Featured
The Global Herald
MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION
A masterclass on multimedia journalism and storytelling across television, radio, text and digital, by reporter Sahar Zand and Steve Titherington, Senior Commissioning Editor at the BBC World Service.
2016 - Speaker
BBC
BBC News
OUTSIDE SOURCE
2016 - LIVE TV Interview
