Zal Batmanglij is an American film director and screenwriter. He directed and co-wrote the 2011 film Sound of My Voice and the 2013 film The East, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Batmanglij was born in France to Iranian parents. His mother is the cookbook author Najmieh Batmanglij, and his younger brother Rostam Batmanglij is a member of the band Vampire Weekend. Both brothers are gay. Batmanglij grew up in Washington, DC, in the United States. He studied anthropology and English at Georgetown University, graduating in 2002. There he met Mike Cahill in a philosophy class. They took a screenwriting course together and produced a short film that won the Georgetown Film Festival. Brit Marling saw the short film and asked if she could work with them. Several years later, after Marling's graduation, the three friends moved to Los Angeles, California, where Batmanglij attended the American Film Institute Conservatory. For his thesis film, he made a 35mm short called The Recordist (2007), which starred Marling.
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Biography from TMDB.
- April 28, 1981 (45)
- Vence, Alpes-Maritimes, France
- Director, writer and producer
- 6 on MovieCove · 7 credits in all
What are Zal Batmanglij's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Self.
Themes
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Zal Batmanglij's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 6 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Hulu (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Zal Batmanglij's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
7 credits, 6 with a MovieCove page.
Primetime(2026)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all shows
The OA(2016)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all shows
Wayward Pines(2015)
Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all shows
The East(2013)
Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all films
Sound of My Voice(2011)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
The Recordist (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Career shape
A full career of 7 titles from 2007 to 2026.
Biggest box office
The East (2013)
Highest rated
The East (2013)
Most popular right now
A Murder at the End of the World (2023)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Is Zal Batmanglij's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 3 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Zal Batmanglij work with?
People who share at least 2 of Zal Batmanglij's MovieCove titles; Brit Marling shares the most, 3.
- Brit MarlingShared titles: A Murder at the End of the World (2023), The East (2013), Sound of My Voice (2011)See all 3 shared titles with Brit Marling
