about

Photo credit: Petie Sjogren

Sahand Nikoukar is a writer, director, and sound designer whose work blends humor, science, and social satire to explore how technology reshapes human connection. A Sloan Science in Cinema Grantee for Centaur, a political satire about an AI running for president, he is also a Black List Projects Lab alum and SFFILM Rainin Grantee for his screenplay Abracadabra TV Repair, inspired by his childhood in his parents’ TV repair shop.

As a current SFFILM FilmHouse Resident Artist and former adjunct lecturer at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Sahand brings a sensorial, sound-driven perspective to filmmaking. His projects often use genre, worldbuilding, and satire to probe the tension between technological progress and empathy, revealing the human stories beneath our evolving machines.

He received a BA in Film and Theater from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Film and Television Production from USC. Sahand lives in hippie-trippy San Francisco, where he continues creating character-driven work that merges culture, technology, and the absurd beauty of being human.