PhD - Visual and Performing Arts
University of Texas at Dallas - 2026
Professional Preparation
MA - Film Studies
Chapman University - 2019
Chapman University - 2019
Research Areas
Transnational Cinema, world cinema, Global art cinema, Iranian cinema, diasporic filmmakingPublications
“A Transnational Post-Third World Feminist Reading of Shirin Neshat’s Looking for Oum Kulthum (2017).” Co-authored with Amal Shafek. In The Palgrave Handbook of Arab Film and Media, edited by Samirah Alkassim. Palgrave. - Book Chapter
“Excavating Silenced Histories: Postmemory, Inherited Trauma, and State Violence in Born in Evin.” In Film and Genocide, edited by Kristi M. Wilson & Tomás F. Crowder-Taraborrelli. University of Wisconsin Press, forthcoming. - Book Chapter
“Cinematic Isolation and Entrapment in The Lobster.” Mise-en-scène: The Journal of Film & Visual Narration 7, no. 1 (2022). - Journal Article
“The Subversive Effects of Defamiliarization in This Is Not a Film, Directed by Jafar Panahi.” - Journal Article
Awards
Dean’s Teaching Fellowship - University of Texas at Dallas [2026]
President’s Teaching Excellence Award for Teaching Assistants (Honorable Mention) - University of Texas at Dallas [2025]
Victor Worsfold Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant - University of Texas at Dallas [2024]
Presentations
“Looking Back from Elsewhere: Iranian Expatriate Cinema as Confrontational Transnational Cinema”
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Annual Conference, March 2026“In the Wake of Silence: Disorientation, Dream, and Memory in Exile”
Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Cincinnati, October 2025“Redefining Transnational Feminism on Screen: A Post-Third Worldist Feminist Analysis of Looking for Oum Kulthum”
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Annual Conference, April 2025“Reclaiming the Body: Gender, Exile, and Body Politics in A Moon For My Father”
Visible Evidence XXX – Decentering Documentary: New Visions and Perspectives, December 2024“The Politics of the Personal: Persepolis and the Global Resonance of Iran’s Feminist Resistance”
Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Annual Conference, November 2024Additional Information
Academic Bio
Dr. Mazyar Mahan's research interests include transnational cinema, world cinema, global art cinema, and diasporic filmmaking. Mahan’s current book project focuses on Iranian expatriate cinema over the past decade. His academic work has appeared in journals such as Transnational Screens, Mise-en-scène, and The Spectator. Mahan is the co-editor (with Maryam Ghorbankarimi) of Refocus: The Films of Shirin Neshat (Edinburgh University Press).Dr. Mahan's first film, Return of the Repressed (2023), was selected for screening at national and international festivals. His second film, Exile Echoes (2024), weaves together the voices of four generations of Iranian women, revealing their shared memories and resilience in the face of an oppressive regime’s relentless campaign against women’s freedom and rights. So far, this film has been selected to be screened in more than 20 national and international film festivals and has received awards from various festivals, including the Austin International Film Festival, the Five Continents International Film Festival, the International Motion Picture Awards, the Impact Docs Awards, and the Silver Wings International Film Festival. Mahan's most recent film, A Drop at a Time (2025) has been selected for and awarded by multiple international festivals, including World Water Film Festival, International Disaster Film Festival, Eugene Environmental Film Festival, Golden Bridge Istanbul Short Film Festival, and Dallas Movie Fest.