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Varda Bar-Kar is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who writes, directs, and produces acclaimed documentaries, scripted projects, and television. Her work has screened at major festivals, premiered on Netflix, PBS, and HBO/MAX, and earned recognition from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency, and Jewish Story Partners. Varda has directed for FOX's hit series "9-1-1", and served as a consulting producer on Netflix's "Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me".
Varda's most recent PBS documentary, "Artbound: The Cheech"-about Cheech Marin's pivotal role in the rise of Chicano art-launched the 2024 Emmy-winning series Artbound as its premiere episode. Her HBO/MAX feature documentary "Fandango at the Wall" (Executive Producers Carlos Santana, Quincy Jones) follows Maestro Arturo O'Farrill to Veracruz, Mexico, where he joins legendary son jarocho musicians for a transborder celebration of unity. The film inspired the Grammy-winning album Fandango at the Wall in New York. Her award-winning documentary Big Voice, about a high school choir striving for excellence, premiered on Netflix and aired nationally on PBS, earning a Bronze Telly Award.
Her feature music documentary, "Janis Ian: Breaking Silence", explores the creative genius and resilience of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Janis Ian. Featuring collaborators and friends including Lily Tomlin, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Jean Smart, and Laurie Metcalf, the film was released theatrically by Greenwich Entertainment before a national broadcast on PBS's American Masters. "Breaking Silence" was selected as "Best of the Fest" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and was one of the "top ten" viewed films at DOC NYC.
Varda began her career as a script supervisor working with celebrated filmmakers Jim Jarmusch, Wayne Wang, and Carroll Ballard before transitioning into directing. Her short film Window, starring Academy Award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., won festival awards and screened at Cannes. Since her first feature documentary-fulfilling the dying wish of a veteran she met while volunteering in hospice care-Varda has built a career around amplifying the voices of outsiders and transforming stories of struggle into celebrations of resilience.
Her films have received support from the Ford Foundation, Jewish Story Partners, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and the Miranda Family Foundation. She has been awarded residencies and fellowships through the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency, and the Jewish Film Institute Residency. Varda is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the International Documentary Association, and Film Fatale.
When not directing, Varda enjoys creating art, listening to music, swimming, biking, hiking, and exploring the world with her husband, Patrick Scott Bennett, and their daughters, Paloma and Raven.
