He has shot & directed critically-acclaimed music videos for Macklemore, Blue Scholars, Jake One and Common Market, and a 2007 mockumentary short with standup comedian Hari Kondabolu, MANOJ. In 2009, Zia became the youngest winner ever of the Stranger Genius Award, for film. In 2015, he wrote and directed the award-winning narrative short feature, HAGERESEB, and is also the cinematographer and director of a newly released (2017) storytelling series, The Charcoal Sky.