---
name: "Ira Sachs"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ira-sachs"
fi1m_id: "ira-sachs"
imdb_id: "nm0755158"
tmdb_id: 53708
wikidata_id: "Q50182"
roles: ["Director","Writer"]
born: "21 November 1965"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-24T02:26:01.568596+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Ira Sachs

## Identity

Ira Sachs

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ira-sachs
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ira-sachs
- **IMDb ID:** nm0755158
- **TMDB ID:** 53708
- **Wikidata ID:** Q50182
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Sachs, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q50182, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755158/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/53708

Director and writer. Born 21 November 1965 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer
- **Born:** 21 November 1965, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- **Active:** 2023–present
- **Frequently works with:** [Mauricio Zacharias](https://film.one/person/mauricio-zacharias.md)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Sachs, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q50182, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755158/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/53708

## Coming up

- *The Man I Love* (2027-01-14), Director

## Streaming the US now

- **MUBI:** [*Passages*](https://film.one/film/passages.md) (77)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Ira Sachs is an American filmmaker and screenwriter. He was born on 21 November 1965 in Memphis, Tennessee, and graduated from Yale University in 1988 with a degree in literature focused on film studies. He began his career with short films including Vaudeville (1991) and Lady (1993), before making his feature debut with The Delta (1997).

Sachs is known for his independent dramatic features, several of which premiered at Sundance. These include Forty Shades of Blue (2005), Keep the Lights On (2012), Love Is Strange (2014), Little Men (2016) and Passages (2023), on which he served as director and co-writer. He has received awards including the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for Forty Shades of Blue and the Teddy Award at the Berlinale for Keep the Lights On. He is a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow and founded the non-profit Queer|Art.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, irasachsfilms.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Passages* (2023), Fi1m 77, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/passages.md)

## Complete filmography (24)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Man I Love* (2027), Director, Writer
- *Peter Hujar's Day* (2025), Director, Screenplay
- *Plainclothes* (2025), Thanks
- *Passages* (2023), Director, Writer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/passages.md)
- *Film About a Father Who* (2020), Director of Photography
- *30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing* (2019), Director
- *Before I Forget* (2019), Director
- *Frankie* (2019), Screenplay, Director
- *Little Men* (2016), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Love Is Strange* (2014), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Keep the Lights On* (2012), Director, Writer, Producer
- *In Search of Avery Willard* (2012), Executive Producer
- *Woman's Picture* (2011), Executive Producer
- *Last Address* (2010), Director
- *Married Life* (2008), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *Forty Shades of Blue* (2005), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Underground Zero* (2002), Director
- *Get It While You Can* (2002), Director
- *Untitled* (2002), Director
- *10/26/00* (2000), Director
- *The Delta* (1997), Director, Writer
- *Lady* (1993), Director
- *Vaudeville* (1992), Director, Writer
- *Monty Clift*, Writer

## Gallery

- ![Ira Sachs](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-e116fa45821b.jpg) Ira Sachs — Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/MKr24691_Ira_Sachs_%28Passages%2C_Berlinale_2023%29.jpg/1280px-MKr24691_Ira_Sachs_%28Passages%2C_Berlinale_2023%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jordan Drake, Ben Wishaw, Rebecca Hall, and Ira Sachs at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day"](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-bd6578739f83.jpg) Jordan Drake, Ben Wishaw, Rebecca Hall, and Ira Sachs at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day" — Everwest, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-10_Full.jpg/1280px-2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-10_Full.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ira Sachs at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day"](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-cc0c0de4bda3.jpg) Ira Sachs at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day" — Everwest, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-1_Full.jpg/1280px-2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-1_Full.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ira Sachs, Ben Wishaw, Rebecca Hall, and Linda Rosenkrantz at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day"](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-9654e72cb7c6.jpg) Ira Sachs, Ben Wishaw, Rebecca Hall, and Linda Rosenkrantz at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day" — Everwest, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-8_Full.jpg/1280px-2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-8_Full.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ira Sachs](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-a7c1454d893f.jpg) Ira Sachs — Image via TMDB
- ![Ira Sachs](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-a3787d7e4730.jpg) Ira Sachs — Image via TMDB
- ![Ira Sachs](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-7f8f2800e121.jpg) Ira Sachs — Image via TMDB
- ![Ira Sachs, Ben Wishaw, and Rebecca Hall at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day"](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-430f68a4a38f.jpg) Ira Sachs, Ben Wishaw, and Rebecca Hall at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Peter Hujar's Day" — Everwest, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-9_Full.jpg/1280px-2025_01_27_Sundance_Film_Festival-9_Full.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ira Sachs at Berlinale 2023](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-0404f395ec4c.jpg) Ira Sachs at Berlinale 2023 — Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Ira_Sachs%2C_Berlinale_2023.jpg/1280px-Ira_Sachs%2C_Berlinale_2023.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ira Sachs](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-ac0bc7403303.jpg) Ira Sachs — Image via TMDB
- ![Ira Sachs](https://film.one/media/person/15975/gallery-7fd3cf9d8a47.jpg) Ira Sachs — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won, 3 nominated

- Guggenheim Fellowship 2013: Guggenheim Fellowship (won)
- Independent Spirit Awards 2013: Best Screenplay (nominated), for *Keep the Lights On*
- Independent Spirit Awards 2013: Best Director (nominated), for *Keep the Lights On*
- Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award 2005: Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award (won), for *Forty Shades of Blue*
- Open Palm Award 1997: Open Palm Award (nominated), for *The Delta*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ira-sachs