Mehraneh Salimian is an Iranian filmmaker, editor, and writer working across documentary, video installation, and fiction film. Her practice centers on the concept of the counter-archive, particularly in Iran, where she creates alternative narratives to challenge dominant historical accounts. She works extensively with family photographs and personal archives, reflecting on memory, unrecorded histories, and political erasure.
Experienced in 16mm filmmaking, her analog practice engages with the question of how the act of remembering can be a tactile, sensory experience. By hand-processing, layering, and physically altering 16mm film, she makes textured narratives that give form to memory. Her work has been presented at Oscar-qualifying film festivals worldwide and exhibited at EXPO Chicago, Northwestern’s Dittmar Gallery, and SAIC’s SITE Gallery. Mehraneh holds a BA in Cinema Directing from Tehran University of Art and an MFA in Film, Video, New Media, and Animation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Email: Mehrane.salimian@gmial.com
Msalim1@saic.edu
Msalim1@saic.edu