Sonia K. Hadad

Born in Tehran/Iran in 1989.

Sonia K. Hadad is a writer and director currently based in Boston/USA. Her passion for storytelling began in middle school, where she started writing short stories, which led her to pursue dramatic literature and theater at Tehran Azad University of Art and Architecture, where she earned her B.A. in 2009. She later completed an M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts at Emerson College in 2017.

Her films include The Box (2016), Personal (2017), Exam (2019), and File (2022). Exam, which premiered at TIFF, has won more than 56 awards, including AFI’s Best Live Action Short, Sundance’s Best Actress Award, the EDA Award, and the Golden Chair at the Kort Film Festival in Norway. File has also received accolades such as Best Short Film at the New York Short Film Festival (2023) and the Silver Horse for Best International Short Film at the Stockholm International Film Festival (2022).

Alongside her filmmaking career, Sonia works as a creative director in the advertising industry.