1991–2013 Sachs started his career writing and directing several short films including
Vaudeville (1992) and
Lady (1993). The short
Vaudeville was shot in
16 mm and lasted 55 minutes. The story revolves around a traveling theatrical troupe, made up primarily of gay and lesbian performers, mirrors the troubles of a political and social community through its tight-knit existence. With
Lady the film was also shot in 16 mm and lasted 28 minutes. The film revolves around the blurred parameters of sexuality, desire, and female identity. He made his directorial film debut with the
LGBTQ coming of age drama film
The Delta (1996) about a young man exploring his
bisexuality. Sachs spoke to his inspiration of the film saying, "I wrote the film in New York where I was living, but I grew up in Memphis. It was inspired by my memories and my thoughts and my knowledge of the city." The low budget film was shot on
16 mm. The film premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival and later screened at the
Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. His next film was
Forty Shades of Blue, which was released in 2005. The film follows a young Russian woman living in Memphis with an aging music producer who comes to question her life when his adult son comes to visit. The film was influenced by the films of
Ken Loach and
Satyajit Ray. The film won the
Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize. He followed up with the period drama film
Married Life (2007) based on
John Bingham's 1953 novel
Five Roundabouts to Heaven. The film starred
Chris Cooper,
Patricia Clarkson,
Pierce Brosnan, and
Rachel McAdams. The film received mixed reviews. He directed the drama
Keep the Lights On which premiered at the
2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film is based on Sachs' own past relationship with
Bill Clegg, a literary agent who wrote a memoir about his struggles with addiction,
Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, in 2010. David Rooney described the film as an "immersive portrait of contemporary New York life". The film was nominated for four
Independent Spirit Awards including for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
2014–present He returned to film with the relationship drama
Love Is Strange (2014) starring
John Lithgow,
Alfred Molina and
Marisa Tomei. The film screened at both the
2014 Sundance Film Festival and the
64th Berlin International Film Festival.
Mark Kermode of
The Guardian praised the film writing, "Watching this quietly beguiling tale of an ageing gay couple who have been together for decades, I was reminded of the films of
Yasujirô Ozu,
Woody Allen and
Maurice Pialat." In 2016, Sachs directed the drama
Little Men (2016) starring
Jennifer Ehle and
Greg Kinnear. The film premiered at the
66th Berlin International Film Festival. Peter Debruge of
Variety gave the film a positive review writing, "Though Sachs' observations do succeed in personalizing the phenomenon, the reason we go — indeed, the reason we care — is because
Little Men is also a story about love, and as Sachs has poignantly noted before, love is strange." Sachs received a nomination for the
Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for his work. With 2019 drama film
Frankie, Sachs cast
Isabelle Huppert,
Brendan Gleeson and reunited with Greg Kinnear and Marisa Tomei. The film revolves around an elderly French actress who is in ill health and she decides to spend her last vacation with her family. The film premiered at
2019 Cannes Film Festival. In his mixed review, film critic Owen Gleiberman of
Variety compared it to the works of
Eric Rohmer writing, "
Frankie is a film made with immaculate craftsmanship...Yet for all its naturalistic elegance and lighter-than-air precision, it's an American Rohmer film that doesn't, unfortunately, feel close to being a major Rohmer film." His next film,
Passages, was shot in
France and was released in 2023. It starred
Franz Rogowski,
Ben Whishaw, and
Adèle Exarchopoulos. It depicts a long-time male couple, one of whom has an affair with a woman.
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian praised Sachs film calling it a return to form. Bradshaw compared the film to the works of
Eric Rohmer,
Woody Allen and
Nora Ephron and declared, "Sachs strikes gold with sophisticated love triangle". The film received controversy due to the
Motion Picture Association giving the film an
NC-17 rating, prompting its American distributor to release the film unrated. Sachs called the rating "A form of cultural censorship that is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist". In 2025, he directed ''
Peter Hujar's Day'', starring
Ben Whishaw as photographer
Peter Hujar and
Rebecca Hall as writer
Linda Rosenkrantz. Set entirely in Rosenkrantz's New York apartment, the film reenacts a taped 1974 conversation in which Hujar recounts the previous day in detail, touching on encounters with figures like
Allen Ginsberg and
Susan Sontag. The film is set in New York City and stars
Rami Malek,
Tom Sturridge,
Luther Ford,
Rebecca Hall, and
Ebon Moss-Bachrach. ==Favorite films==