Shokoofeh Jabbari

Biography

Shokoofeh Jabbari is an experimental filmmaker, animator, poet, writer and collage artist working across cinema, literature and interdisciplinary media. Born and raised in Iran, she holds an M.F.A. in filmmaking from Syracuse University, an M.A. in dramatic literature from Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, a B.A. in cinema and an associate degree in graphic design.

Jabbari is an instructor in film and media arts at Syracuse University, teaching Making Media: Fundamentals, and has served as a teaching assistant and mentor across undergraduate and pre-college programs. In Iran, she taught performing arts and art history, guiding students in filmmaking, performance, literature and creative expression. Her work explores identity, trauma, exile, womanhood and displacement, connecting personal and collective histories. Using literature, collage, experimental film, animation, VR, installation and performance, she creates spaces where fragmented identities, memories and voices come into dialogue.

She has received numerous awards, including the Philip K. Davis Award and the M.F.A. Show Award from Syracuse University, multiple Creative Opportunity Grants, Best Film awards from the Fanoos and International Film Festival for Children and Youth, and Best Screenplay from the Hasanat Short Film Festival. Her poetry has appeared in DoveTales, Straylight Journal, Artifact Nouveau, A Narrow Fellow, Ghost City Review, and anthologies including “Infinite Dream” and “Viver Sem Fronteiras.” Her collection “Eu Não Sou Um Anjo” (I Am Not an Angel) was published in 2020 by Amazon Brazil. She has twice been named a Top Ten Poet by the Zhale Esfahani Poem Foundation at SOAS, University of London, and received Elite Artist Recognition from the Provincial Government of Yazd, Iran, as well as the First Young Writer Award.

Her work has been featured in exhibitions such as the M.F.A. thesis exhibition “Liminal Cartographies” (Brooklyn, New York), the M.F.A. show at the Warehouse Gallery (Syracuse, New York) and “Memories in Transit” (Syracuse, New York). As a cultural organizer, she has directed the Simurgh Festival at the Syracuse International Film Festival, served as a jury member for the Hasanat Film Festival in Iran, and organized exhibitions and cultural events in her hometown.

Across her diverse practice, Jabbari explores the intersections of storytelling, media and identity, bridging cinema, literature and visual art to reclaim silenced voices and reimagine fragmented narratives.

Education

• M.F.A, Syracuse University
• M.A., Tarbiat Modares University
• B.A., Sepehr College
• Associate Degree of Fine Arts, College of Nabi Akram (UCNA)