Documentary Filmmaking & Cultural Storytelling

Sej Saraiya is a film director and interdisciplinary artist known for her ethnographic storytelling via film, photography, and writing. She earned her MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California in 2009 and has and has spent over a decade developing long-form visual projects through immersive work across Asia and the Americas. Her practice is rooted in direct engagement with the communities she documents.

Her work has taken her to remote regions around the world, where she has spent time with Indigenous leaders, medicine women in British Columbia, shamans of the Venezuelan Amazon, and globally respected leaders and humanitarians. . These experiences inform a body of work centered on preserving cultural heritage, ancestral wisdom, and fragile ecosystems through visual storytelling. As a director, she focuses on stories that focus on coexistence. Her approach is observational and deliberate, with an emphasis on authorship and the ethics of representation.

Alongside filmmaking, her photographic work forms part of ongoing projects exploring culture, displacement, and belonging. These images have been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums, and public venues such as John Wayne Airport, and is held in private collections worldwide. Her work has been featured in publications including ELLE, LA Yoga Magazine, Deadline, and Luxury Lifestyle Magazine. She is the author of Becoming Still, and her essays have appeared in USA Today, STEAM Journal, and Hindustan Times.

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2026 EVENTS

Exhibition poster featuring work by Sej Saraiya at the Tokyo International Foto Awards 2024–2025 in Tokyo, Japan, showing a masked portrait and event details.

TIFA Exhibition
Le Déco Gallery, Tokyo
May 2026

Gallery exhibition featuring photographic work by Sej Saraiya, displayed in a contemporary art space with large portrait installation and natural light.

Atlas of Humanity Exhibition
One Art Space, New York
June 2026

Interior of Galerie Joseph in Paris during an exhibition featuring work by Sej Saraiya, showing multi-level gallery space and skylight architecture.

Atlas of Humanity Exhibition
Galerie Joseph le Palais, Paris
November 2026

As soon as I walked into the theater lobby, I was mesmerized by the larger-than-life portraits of people from places and cultures I didn’t know existed. I couldn’t take my eyes off the magnificent faces so perfectly captured by the photographer. I felt I was looking into their souls, her subjects speaking to me without words.”
— MICKI DICKOFF, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker

“When I first encountered [Sej’s] photos, I was absolutely stunned. Her photos have that unique storytelling aspect that is extremely rare to find in a photographer. These photos are not just the beauty of light or composition, of which she is an expert, but they go deeper and speak to an issue and a story of people that is begging to be heard; something that I’ve never seen in professional photography.”

— ADAM SCHOMER, Award-winning Director, Producer of the documentaries HEAL and WOMEN OF THE WHITE BUFFALO

Black-and-white portrait by Sej Saraiya of an elderly Rai woman with a headscarf, capturing resilience and lived experience.
Photograph by Sej Saraiya of a woman carrying a surfboard at sunset, reflecting freedom and connection to the ocean.
Portrait by Sej Saraiya of a Huni Kuin elder Ninawai Pai Di Mata in traditional feathered headdress, highlighting cultural symbolism and identity.
Landscape fine art print by Sej Saraiya of a misty forest, evoking mystery and connection to nature.
Portrait by Sej Saraiya of a Raine Ashinenka in ceremonial attire, expressing heritage and individuality.
A man dressed in traditional indigenous attire with elaborate accessories, wearing a feathered headdress and face paint, participating in a cultural event or celebration with other similarly dressed individuals in the background.
Blurred ocean scene with waves and sky.
Woman dressed in traditional, colorful, beaded, and embroidered attire with jewelry, sitting with legs extended. She has braided hair with beads and stands against a dark background.
Group of Indigenous women dressed in traditional attire, holding hands, participating in a cultural event or ceremony.
A man dressed in traditional Indian attire, including a white turban with red and orange decorations, a red shawl, and jewelry, holding a brass lamp with smoke rising from it against a gold background.
A woman dressed in colorful traditional attire performing a dance outdoors in a desert with mountains in the background.
Close-up image of an elderly woman with long gray hair, traditional facial markings, and facial paint resembling a nose and a vertical line on her forehead, wearing a beige striped shirt.
A woman in traditional clothing arranges round patterned pottery jars on a wall.
Group of elderly indigenous people sitting against a plain wall, wearing traditional feathered headdresses and jewelry.
A man holding a woman in an acrobatic pose on a city street with tall buildings and parked cars.
An elderly woman with traditional face paint sitting inside a rustic wooden house with hanging clothes and household items around her.
A black and white photo of an indigenous man dressed in traditional attire, holding a spear, wearing a large feathered headdress, and jewelry, standing against a dark background.
Women dressed in traditional Maasai attire, wearing colorful bead jewelry and headbands, gather outdoors with trees and a wooden structure in the background.
A woman in traditional Japanese geisha attire with elaborate hair ornaments and white makeup, posed in profile against a dark background.
Three Buddhist monks walking together, dressed in red robes, holding umbrellas, and barefoot.
An elderly Native American man wearing traditional headdress and jewelry, featuring a large round face tattoo, with long earrings and a patterned necklace, dressed in a button-up shirt.
Man surfing on a blue surfboard on a wave.
Woman dressed as a traditional Hindu goddess, wearing elaborate jewelry, a crown, and colorful clothing, with her hands in a prayer gesture.