Zahavi Sanjavi is a Kurdish filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer born in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and based in Sweden since 1990. He studied screenwriting and filmmaking at the All-Russian State University of Cinematography in Moscow and worked in television in Iraqi Kurdistan for nine years before continuing his cinematic career in Sweden as a director, screenwriter, and producer.

His filmmaking career spans more than twenty-five years, with documentary cinema forming a significant part of his work. His films often engage with memory, identity, family, and social and human experiences. Among his works are All My Mothers, Finding My Father, The Return, and Imad’s Childhood, alongside several short and fiction films.

Sanjavi continues to work across documentary and fiction cinema. His recent projects include the documentary The Promise (2026) and the feature film The Well, scheduled for 2027.

His extensive experience across cinema and television, and between Kurdistan and Europe, brings together filmmaking practice, narrative understanding, and a long engagement with human-centered documentary storytelling.

At the 7th edition of the Kobani International Film Festival 2026, Zahavi Sanjavi serves as an Artistic & Programming Committee Member, contributing his experience in directing, screenwriting, production, and documentary cinema.