NINA SHARIFI

Nina Sharifi grew up with a curiosity for the macabre; from hearing her family speak of their own paranormal experiences to reading Alvin Schwartz’ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark repeatedly, it didn’t take long for that fear she had of “big kid” scary movies to become less of a fear and more of a passion.

With her favorite holiday being Halloween, of course, she eventually discovered the haunter crowd and was pleased to know that Halloween was being kept alive all year long. Already inspired by dark filmmakers like Tim Burton, the Coen Brothers, and Alfred Hitchcock, the haunter world offered more independent artists with just as strong an influence on her, like Pumpkin Rot, Dame Darcy, Love Manor, and more. Soon, she eventually created her own haunter blog called Vintage Seance.

Taking her love for the paranormal, Halloween, and a strong interest in Southern Gothic style and themes, Nina has since followed her passion for film having created a handful of spooky short films, one of which is Seance. The stop animated short was designed, animated, and edited by Nina, but when it came to sound and music, luckily she was able to reach out to her older brother, Bijan Sharifi, a graduate and valedictorian of Full Sail University who acquired a B.A. in sound engineering. For the score, he contacted professional musician and friend Anthony Ferraro to compose the piano score to give it that old-timey feel. Seance was also screened at the CSU Media Arts Festival in November at Cal State Fullerton, where it received third place in the animation category.

Nina is currently a senior at Cal State Fullerton majoring in film, focusing on directing and writing for film and television. When she is off campus, she follows her passion for comedy as a member of a Fullerton based improv team called Fancy Hobo Improv and occasionally partakes in stand up comedy as well.

Follow Nina Sharifi @NinaSharifi on Twitter, and check out her blog Vintage Seance at vintageseance.blogspot.com