Homa Sarabi
Filmmaker, Educator, and Programmer
Member of Feminist Futurist Collective | LEF Flaherty Fellow | Mass Cultural Council Grantee | Boston Center for the Arts Studio Resident

Summary
Homa Sarabi 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 practice spans from experimental cinema to international, independent, and documentary films. Her practice bridges the poetic and the political, often drawing from place-based research, collaborative processes, and her roots in Iranian culture and literature.

Fellowships, Awards, & Residencies

  • 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: Westford Cultural Council Grant, Feminist Futurist Artist Collective

  • 2024: Artist Fellowship, Virginia Center for Creative Arts

  • 2024: Artist in Residence, Gallery 263

  • 2024: MassCultural Council 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: Tan/Vatan Screening, 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 Screening, Moviate Underground Film Festival, Harrisburg, PA

  • 2025: Tan/Vatan Screening, 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 Screening, 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 Screening, Underneath the Floorboards Experimental Film Festival, London, UK

  • 2024: Tan/Vatan, Screening, Best of Fest, Gurrl Haus Cinema, Brattle Theater, Boston, MA

  • 2024: Tan/Vatan Screening, 12 Gates & PAAFF's Contemporary Video Art Exhibition 2024, Philadelphia, PA

  • 2024: Tan/Vatan Screening, Light Matter Film Festival (Experimental Film & Media Art), Argentina & NY

  • 2024: Tan/Vatan Screening, 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: 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, 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.