Homa Sarabi
Filmmaker, Educator, and Programmer
Member of Feminist Futurist Collective | LEF Flaherty Fellow | Mass Cultural Council Grantee

Summary
Through moving image, non-fiction storytelling, media arts, performance, and community-engaged practices Homa explores the different dimensions and effects of physical and emotional distance and connection, history, and personal and collective memory. She collaborates with RPM Film Festival as a programmer and serves as the short program director for Salem Film Fest. Homa teaches 16mm filmmaking and collaborative design studios at Emerson College, where she is a faculty fellow with the Engagement Lab.

Fellowships, Awards & Residencies

  • 2025: Artist in Residence, Marble House Project

  • 2025: Artist in Residence, Cross Roads, Urbano Projects

  • 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 Resident with Srishti Institute, India

  • 2016: MFA Dean Scholarship, MassArt

Exhibitions & Screenings

  • 2025: Tan/Vatan Screening, Non-Fiction Series: Essay, Experimental, and Documentary Films, University of Rochester, NY

  • 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, 12Gates & 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, NYC, NY

  • 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

  • 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.