Homa Sarabi
Filmmaker, Educator, and Programmer
Homa is an Iranian-born artist, educator, and curator, living in the U.S. Working across film, installation, and socially engaged practices, her work explores the intersection of personal and political, investigates collective memories, and researches contemporary histories. She teaches media and visual arts, and her curatorial interest spans from experimental cinema to international, independent, and documentary films. Her practice bridges the poetic and the political, often drawing from research, collaborative processes, and her roots in Iranian culture and literature.
Fellowships, Awards, & Residencies
2025: Asian American Documentary Network Black Star Film Festival Fellow
2025: Artist in Residence, Boston Center for the Arts (till 2028)
2025: Artist in Residence, Marble House Project
2025: Artist in Residence, Crossroads, Urbano Projects
2025: Newton Cultural Council Artist Project Grants
2025: Westford Cultural Council Grant, Feminist Futurist Artist Collective
2024: Artist Fellowship, Virginia Center for Creative Arts
2024: Artist in Residence, Gallery 263
2024: Mass Cultural Council Individual Artist Grant
2024: Presidential Grant, Emerson College
2022: Engagement Lab Fellow, Emerson College
2021: Flaherty Seminar LEF Foundation Fellow
2020: MassArt Graduate Artist In Residence with Srishti Institute, India
2016: MFA Dean Scholarship, MassArt
Exhibitions & Screenings
2025: Choreography of Light, 32nd Barcelona Independent Film Festival, l’Alternativa, Barcelona, Spain
2025: Choreography of Light, 10th Beijing International Short Film Festival, Beijing, China
2025: Tan/Vatan, 10th Beijing International Short Film Festival, Beijing, China
2025: Choreography of Light Screening, City Space @ WBUR, Boston, MA
2025: Choreography of Light, 10th Moving Body Film Festival, Varna, Bulgaria
2025: Tan/Vatan Screening, Millennium Film Workshop, New York, NY
2025: Choreography of Light Screening, Mobius Live: Outside/Inside, Civic Pavilion, Boston, MA
2025: Tan/Vatan, Braziers International Film Festival, UK
2025: Path of Totality with Live Scoring, Private Screening, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
2025: Path of Totality, Photographic Resource Center Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2025: Tan/Vatan Screening, Living With Buildings, Coventry, UK
2025: Choreography of Light, Mimesis Documentary Festival, Boulder, CO
2025: Tan/Vatan, Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, The University Art Museum, New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, TX
2025: Tan/Vatan Screening, aDifferent Program, Milwaukee, WI
2025: Choreography of Light Screening, Revolutions Per Minute Programmer’s Screening Series, Brattle Theater, Cambridge, MA
2025: Choreography of Light, Moviate Underground Film Festival, Harrisburg, PA
2025: Tan/Vatan, West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival, WV
2025: Tan/Vatan Screening, Non-Fiction Series: Essay, Experimental, and Documentary Films, University of Rochester, NY
2025: Tan/Vatan, Wide Open Experimental Film Festival, Oklahoma City Museum Of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
2025: M/Otherhood, Feminist Futurist Artist Collective Exhibition, PianoCraft Gallery, Boston, MA
2025: M/Otherhood, Feminist Futurist Artist Collective Exhibition, Parish Art Center, Westford, MA
2024: Tan/Vatan, Underneath the Floorboards Experimental Film Festival, London, UK
2024: Tan/Vatan, Best of Fest, Gurrl Haus Cinema, Brattle Theater, Boston, MA
2024: Tan/Vatan Screening, 12 Gates & PAAFF's Contemporary Video Art Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
2024: Tan/Vatan, Light Matter Film Festival (Experimental Film & Media Art), Argentina & NY
2024: Tan/Vatan, Cine Salon Experimental Film Festival, Cork City, Ireland
2024: Yušká: Uncoil, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
2023: Automatic Aura, Installation Space, North Adams, MA
2022: Little Splinters, MassArtxSowa, Boston, MA
2020: Po-Up exhibition, Space Us, Downtown Crossing, Boston, MA
2018: New England Media Symposium Screening, Boston, MA
2017: MassArt Film and Video Graduate Thesis Screening, Boston, MA
2017: MassArt MFA Thesis Exhibition, Bakalar Gallery, Boston, MA
2017: Ritual: A Collaborative Video and Sound Installation, MassArt Doran Gallery, Boston, MA
2016: see[Self]see, The Phenomenology of Perception, Arnheim Gallery, Boston, MA
Curating & Programming
2025: Best of Fests Series, West Newton Cinema, Newton, MA
2025: Salem Film Festival, Short Program Director
2025: Rebel Flesh, Arteeast Revolution Series Screening, Curator, Union Docs, NYC, NY
2025: Films From Iran, Co-Programmer, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
2024: Independent Screening, An Owel, A Garden, the Writer, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
2024: Revolutions Per Minute Festival, Programmer (Harvard Cam Lab, MFA, Brattle, etc.)
2024: Flaherty Seminar, Satellite Pods, Boston Screening Pod
2024: Belmont World Film, The Opponent Screening, West Newton Cinema
2024: Sustainability Teach-In Film Screening, Emerson College
2024: Salem Film Festival, Short Program Director
2023: Revolution Per Minute Festival, Programmer
2023: Independent Screening, Joonam Film by Sierra Uritch, Programmer
2023: Visions of Contemporary Iran, MassArt Cine Culture
2023: Radical Imagination, Responding to a Climate Crisis, Bright Light Cinema Series
2023: Contemporary Iran, Visions and Documents, Independent Film Festival of Boston
2023: Subtle Images of Everyday Revolt, Brightlight Cinema Series
Lectures, Talks, Visiting Artist
2025: Transcultural Exchange Conference, Panel Presentation, Boston, MA
2025: Visiting Artist, Advanced Projects in Time-Based Media Graduate Class, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2025: Visiting Artist, Experimental Media History Course, Emerson College, Boston, MA
2025: Panel Speaker, Behind the Screen Series at West Newton Cinema, Newton, MA
2024: Partnership for Academic Leadership in Sustainability Conference, Pratt Institute, NYC
2024: VoCA Time-based Media Stewardship Workshop, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston
2024: Green Production and Climate Storytelling, UFVA Conference
2024: Screening, A Sense of Place Short program, Civic Pavilion, RPM, Goethe Institute
2024: Visiting Artist, Critique, Senior BFA class, UMass Boston
2024: Climate Change and Global Cinematic Lens Screening, Teach-In on Sustainability, Emerson College
2024: Shorts Program Director, Salem Film Fest
2022-24: Programmer, Revolutions Per Minute Film Festival
2023: Programmer, Short program Visions of Contemporary Iran, Boston Independent Film Festival
2022: Programmer, Subtle Images of Everyday Revolt, Brightlight Screening Cinema Series
2022: Visiting Artist, Cine Culture Screening Series, MassArt
2022: Selection Committee, Shorts Program, Salem Film Festival
2022: Artist Talk, MassArtxSowa
2022: Jury, Moving Image Fund, LEF Foundation
2022: Presentation, Sustainability in Film Industry, Climate Summit, Emerson College
2022: Selection Committee, Revolution Per Minute Film Festival, UMass Boston
2021: Guest Speaker, Alumni Panel, Tehran University (virtual)
2021: Guest Speaker, Alumni Panel, MassArt
2018: Curator and Panel Moderator, Boston ScreenFest, AgX Film Collective
2018: Artist Talk, New England Graduate Symposium
2017: Artist Talk, Boston Center for the Arts
2016: Guest Speaker, Feminist Art and Activism Panel, MassArt
Teaching Experience
Emerson College
Collaborative Studios- Engagement Lab: Course focusing on hybrid storytelling through a futuristic lens.
Film Foundation: Basics of non-synchronous 16mm filmmaking, including camera operation, principles of cinematography and lighting for black-and-white film, non-sync sound recording and transfers, and picture and sound editing.
Rhode Island School of Design
Intermediate Studio, Live Action: Year-long course on technical production in sync with sound filmmaking, exploring narrative, documentary, and experimental filmmaking.
Video Practices: Students work with digital video cameras, sound recorders, microphones, and editing software to explore key concepts in digital moving-image making.
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Graduate Film Major Studio: Critique course for graduate students, including presentations and discussions of work-in-progress.
Studio Foundation, Time: Introduction to basic concepts of art and design in time, covering narrative, performative, spatial, tactile, and digital approaches.