Zachary Wigon

Zachary Wigon (born October 8, 1986, in Bronxville, New York) is an American director who also built an early reputation as a sharp-eyed film critic. Raised in Scarsdale, he studied at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts before moving between criticism and filmmaking with an unusually hands-on perspective.

As a writer, Wigon has contributed criticism to outlets including Slant Magazine, Filmmaker, and The Village Voice. He has noted that making films has shaped his critical voice more than the other way around—an approach that shows in his attention to craft, performance, and modern intimacy.

Wigon’s breakout began with the short Someone Else’s Heart, which won the Hammer to Nail Short Film Contest and became the foundation for his debut feature, The Heart Machine. The romantic thriller, loosely inspired by his own experiences, reached audiences after a crowdfunding campaign and premiered at SXSW in 2014.

He followed with the psychological thriller Sanctuary, which premiered at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and earned strong reviews, led by Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott. His third feature, Victorian Psycho starring Maika Monroe, is set to premiere in the Un Certain Regard lineup at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.