Zach Ingrasci

Zach Ingrasci is a film director, producer, and the founder of Optimist—a prestige documentary studio in Los Angeles. He’s directed and/or produced over 15 documentaries and is best known for the feature documentaries Living On One Dollar (Netflix 2015), Salam Neighbor (Netflix 2016), Five Years North (PBS 2020), This Is Not Financial Advice (Fuse 2024) and Vitalik (Amazon Prime 2025). Most recently Zach executive produced the unreleased feature documentaries Champions of the Golden Valley (Tribeca 2024) and State of Firsts (Tribeca 2025).

He has been honored by HBO as a 40 under 40 filmmaker to watch; as a finalist for the duPont-Columbia award for outstanding journalism; awardee of the Muslim Public Affairs Council Annual Media Award; and recognized alongside Bill Gates and Angelina Jolie as one of the top 100 visionary leaders by YPO’s Real Leaders Magazine. His work has won 1 Gold Telly Award, 1 Imagen Award, 4 Shorty Awards, 2 ADDY Awards, 1 Webby Award, and 2 AVA Digital Awards.

His work has been featured in The New York Times, Variety, and The Atlantic, and has helped raise over $114 million dollars for poverty alleviation, food access, and refugee support efforts.