Eileen Yaghoobian

Canadian filmmaker Eileen Yaghoobian has been working with visual art, first as a photographer, then as a video and performance artist, and more recently, as an independent producer and director of theater and film. She is a member of the prestigious Lincoln Center Directors Lab (NYC) 2008. Her Fine Art Photography can be found in permanent (private and public) collections at national and international museums. She earned her Master's Degree (MFA) at Tufts University, SMFA, and credits towards at the MIT Media Lab. Yaghoobian produced, directed, shot and edited her first, full-length documentary film "Died Young, Stayed Pretty," a candid look at the underground indie-rock poster subculture in North America, the first movie made on the subject, which was an Official Selection of the 2009 SXSW Film Festival and premiered to rave reviews and sold out audiences at SXSW, Comic-Con International and 2008 Montreal World Film Festivals, among others. The film toured globally and sold to broadcasters worldwide. The film opened its theatrical run (26 Cinemas across USA) at the IFC Center in NYC, ICA London in the UK, Canada, Australia, and in selected cities in Europe (Spain, Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark.) and received distribution in Canada, US and the UK. "Died Young, Stayed Pretty" is part of the permanent collection at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. The first Ladies Sneaker Boutique in Malaysia is named "DYSP" a tribute to her film "Died Young, Stayed Pretty." Recently, she launched the website "Send Me Your Sexts" which is both a service and an online video platform, that takes real life "sext" messages and turns them into hilarious and surreal short form web videos. SMYS web series has carved out a significant presence on the web, receiving press in 25 countries, from a variety of magazines, and over 60 outlets worldwide. SMYS content has been shared thousands of times on various social media platforms, featured in VICE, Dazed, Dangerous Minds, Boing Boing, TIME, Filmmaker, Time Out London, Esquire, Unilad, LadBible, Cosmopolitan (UK & Germany.) Paper Magazine, Dazed and AskMen described her surreal short films as Fellini-esque and out of a scene from a John Waters movie. Yaghoobian is in the midst of developing the concept of the SMYS web series into an hour show, and has written a pilot script. She's also working with a horror novelist to turn her story of finding a Labyrinth in Berlin into a feature horror film. She co-produced the short film on the Labyrinth with The Guardian (UK) and Trigger Happy Productions (Germany) and Boing Boing launched the teaser called "Exit To The Labyrinth."