About Varda Bar-Kar

Award-winning director Varda Bar-Kar is a Third Culture Woman of Jewish descent born in England, to a South African mother and Romanian father. She had traveled the world and lived in the UK, Israel, and the United States by the time she was ten years old.  Her international upbringing provides her with a global perspective and a deep appreciation for diverse cultures.  She is an “artivist” filmmaker focusing her creative lens on meaningful stories exploring the breadth and diversity of the human condition. She faces society’s challenges with an uplifting approach that speaks into possibility.

Varda transitioned into directing after working as a Script Supervisor for maverick feature directors like Jim Jarmusch, Wayne Wang, and Carroll Ballard. She developed her directing voice creating scripted short films, including the festival-winning Window starring Louis Gossett, Jr.  Window screened at Cannes and aired across the United States on local affiliate stations in honor of Black History Month. She was selected to participate in Ryan Murphy’s HALF Director Mentorship Program where she shadowed directors Brad Buecker and Gwyneth Horder-Payton. She went on to direct for the hit FOX show 9-1-1. Her episode entitled “Buck, Actually” stars Angela Bassett, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Peter Krause.

Varda’s music documentary feature Big Voice which she produced and directed received the “Best Premiere Documentary” award at the Heartland Film Festival, “Best Feature Documentary” at NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, and “Best Family Documentary” at the South Dakota Film Festival. Big Voice screened at the United States Capitol in advocacy for Arts Education, broadcast on PBS winning a Bronze Telly Award, and was picked up by Netflix.  Her documentary A Million Spokes (Documentary Channel) required four unique self-self contained camera units each following a select group of cyclists riding across the state of Iowa in the largest, longest, oldest, bike tour in the world called Ragbrai.