Writer • Filmmaker • Playwright

Rustin Zam-Zam Madadi is a multidisciplinary storyteller and filmmaker born in Shiraz, Iran, dedicated to preserving the cultural and linguistic heritage of the transgender Iranian diaspora. Their work spans fiction and non-fiction across film, theater, and radio, with a strong emphasis on cultural preservation through sound.

Rustin’s theatrical debut, Mitra’s Suitcase, received the Los Angeles Mayor’s Recognition Award in 2020. Their other plays have been staged at the Frida Kahlo Theater, Wayward Artist Theater, Chance Theater, and the Broadwater in Los Angeles. They directed Samuel Beckett's Come and Go at the University of Shiraz in Iran and have contributed thought-provoking essays to The Nation and Los Angeles Times.

Their acclaimed radio documentaries, Battle After Combat and Beating Hearts, were broadcast nationally on public radio and earned a Third Wave nomination. Rustin also serves their community as a yoga teacher, assembling Middle Eastern–themed yoga pop-ups across Los Angeles.

An alumni of master classes with renowned filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, Rustin brings a nuanced, global perspective to their practice. They have a growing interest in genre storytelling as a vessel for cultural critique and queer world-building. Their next film, Kill Kylie, a campy lesbian horror flick, is slated to debut in 2026.