Born in Iran in 1969, Neda Sarmast moved to the United States at the age of 9 and has traveled back and forth between the two countries ever since. She holds both Iranian and American citizenship.

During the hostage crisis of 1979, when Americans were held captive by Iranian revolutionaries, and again in 9/11, Neda was placed in a difficult situation. She was treated with suspicion by Americans and, when she travelled in Iran, she encountered deep antagonism as a Westerner.

During the Iraq-Iran War, Neda’s best friend, a 16 year old girl, died of a heart attack when aircraft bombed her neighborhood in the middle of the night. Neda was an eye-witness to much of the fighting, forced to run for cover to escape fire-fights and bombardments.

Feeling that Iranians and Muslims have not been depicted honestly in the US media, Neda Sarmast recently left a prospering music career in New York to become a documentary filmmaker, embracing her passion to promote tolerance and understanding. Her first documentary film, “Nobody’s Enemy”, produced in conjuction with Chat the Planet, was shot in Iran and will be released later this year.