About Zac Wichlei
Documentarian · Researcher · Photographer · Creative
(Also known as Zachariáš, Zachariasz, and Zaccaria)
Zac Wichlei is a Polish-American creative researcher based in Aotearoa New Zealand. With ancestry and ties to Polish, Czech, and Italian migrant families and a strong personal connection to his European ancestry, Zac works at the intersection of storytelling, cultural heritage, and digital media. He brings together a background in anthropology, film, and technology to examine how identity, belonging, and community are shaped across borders and generations.
Zac holds an MA in Ethnographic and Documentary Film from University College London and a BA (Honours) in Film from the University of Westminster. He is certified in Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro, and his professional experience spans post-production, academic research, digital strategy, and photography.
His work reflects a deep respect for memory, tradition, and intergenerational connection—often through a diasporic lens. Zac’s camera has travelled from the barbershops of North London to the mountains of Sakartvelo, the shelters of rural Türkiye, and the coastal towns of Aotearoa, always seeking to tell stories that honour human dignity and shared experience.
Zac also embraces his multilingual and multicultural identity through the use of culturally adapted names across different contexts:
Zachary Wichlei (English) · Zachariasz Wichlei (Polish) · Zachariáš Wichlei (Czech) · Zaccaria Wichlei (Italian).
This practice reflects both personal heritage and professional commitment to cross-cultural communication.