NARINEH TAHMASEBIAN
(Writer/Director)
Narineh Tahmasebian is a first-generation, Armenian-American, born and raised in Glendale, California. She graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Literature, has taken courses at UCLA Extension for Directing and she’s a member of the Alliance of Women Directors. Narineh is a two-time AFF Second Rounder, Top 15% Nicholl, Screencraft Top 10 Finalist, Female Voices Rock Finalist, as well as a Semi-Finalist in WeScreenplay, The Script Lab, Atlanta, and ISA, she’s an Indie Fest Winner and has been featured on Coverfly’s RED List multiple times. Narineh aims to have strong, nuanced, fallible women as subjects for her content.
As an indie filmmaker, she’s directed 3 shorts and one proof-of-concept pilot. A micro-short she made during the pandemic was featured on whohaha (Elizabeth Banks’s comedy site for women). Her most recent short (I Love Nancy Meyers), starring Paula Andrea Placido (The L Word), had an all-female cast and crew. It premiered at NewFest and LA I.F.S. Film Fest.
Along with writing and directing, Narineh has extensive experience as a First A.D., having assisted on the film Stronghold, the Cpics TV series Chutney Manor, and the web series Day-Bi-Day (which she also produced) and she also works as an Associate Producer for Judy Justice.
One of Narineh’s stage plays (Processing), about the racial prejudices of the criminal system, has been selected to be part of A Blind Play’s podcast series, produced by award-winning artist, Michael Mau. Another play by Narineh (The Mourning After), about ageism and situationships, was read by the prestigious NakedAngelsNYC.
Narineh’s first foray into the complications of an immigrant family was witnessing her refugee parents struggle to make ends meet. She had to keep the notion of “Hollywood dreams” to herself as “Hollywood” was not something considered secure, let alone viable. This was true especially to her father, who in escaping during the Revolution, gave up his dreams of being an engineer in Iran only to end up being a cab driver in Beverly Hills.
Narineh has traveled all over the world, including Europe, the Middle East, and South America. She speaks Armenian, Spanish, conversational French and Farsi. Narineh loves trying to recreate her mom’s recipes at home as well as exploring new restaurants in Los Angeles.