Mehrnoosh Fetrat (مهرنوش فطرت) is an award-winning Iranian filmmaker based in Chicago. She is currently an assistant professor of Instruction at Northwestern University and has previously taught at several other schools, including Drexel University, The College of New Jersey, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Temple University, and Saint Joseph's University.
Mehrnoosh has written, produced, and directed three short films: War Game, America, and Copsi. Her work has been shown at over 50 film festivals and galleries across the U.S., Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Croatia, Turkey, Iraq, India, and the UK. Her films have appeared at events such as the Kurdish Film Festival in Berlin, Tehran International Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival, Sundance Collab, UFVA (University Film and Video Association), Buffalo Film Festival, Philly Film Society, Trenton Film Festival, Ca' Foscari Film Festival, London Iranian Film Festival, High Falls Women's Film Festival, and the Adirondack Film Festival, among others. Her films are distributed by the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC). They have also been streamed on Comcast Streampix, TUTV, and PrideTV. She has received several awards and nominations for her films, including Best Actor at the Artemis Film Festival and Best Film and Best Cinematography at the Diamond Screen Film Festival. She has also been nominated for the Princess Grace Award and the PEW Fellowship. Her work has been praised by figures such as Boots Riley and Golshifteh Farahani. In addition, she has served as a jury member for various festivals and conferences, including UFVA, Philadelphia Asian American Film festival, Onion City Film Festival, and Box Film Festival.
Mehrnoosh holds an M.A. in Cinema Studies from Tehran University of Art and an M.F.A. in Film Production from Temple University, where she received the University Fellowship. She originally studied Electrical Engineering but changed her path to film due to her deep passion for cinema, which led her to focus more on the production aspect of filmmaking.
Mehrnoosh’s research focuses on the German New Wave—especially the work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder—along with Third Cinema and Iranian cinema. She has written and translated many articles on these topics and has translated several plays from English to Farsi, including Red by John Logan and Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts.
Currently, Mehrnoosh is in post-production on two new films. The first is a short fiction film titled Raw, Cooked, Burned, which tells the story of an Iranian woman in three different stages of life after the 1979 Revolution. The film explores the intense violence and oppression women face under the Islamic Republic. The second project is a feature documentary called Unfinished: Kamran Shirdel, which looks at the history and decline of post-revolution Iran through the lens of Shirdel.
She founded the Utopia Film Club in Philadelphia, a space for cinephiles to watch and discuss avantgarde and alternative cinema. At Northwestern, she continues this work by hosting film screenings and leading talks and panels in the Department of Radio/TV/Film. She has also been invited to speak at other institutions, including Northeastern University. In addition, she serves as the advisor for Chapin Residential College and supports student groups in the RTVF department.