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Suree Towfighnia
Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Productions
Journalism and Media Production
[email protected]Bio
Suree Towfighnia is a social practice filmmaker, educator, and mom originally from Chicago, IL. Her work centers environmental justice and human rights issues to balance narratives, inform policy, and support historically misrepresented communities. Suree directed the award-winning Crying Earth Rise Up (2015) and Standing Silent Nation (2007) which helped shape policies on water protection and industrial hemp respectively. Suree produced Haskell Wexler’s last documentary, Four Days in Chicago, about the 2012 NATO protests. She is in development on a few projects, including Nurturing Roots, a collaborative animation and documentary project with Oaxacan coffee growers. Suree has taught media theory and production at universities in the U.S. and Cuba, and from 2017-2023 she was full-time faculty at the Evergreen State College. Suree moved to Colorado in 2021 and joined the Journalism and Media Production Department at MSU in fall 2023.Degree
MFA in Directing / Nonfiction
Columbia College Chicago
BA in History and Latin American Latino Studies
University of California
Published Works
- Towfighnia, S. (2015). Crying Earth Rise Up. Vision Maker Media, Corporation for Public Broadcasting (Public Television), NETA, https://visionmakermedia.org/crying-earth/
- Towfighnia, S. (2007). Standing Silent Nation. Point of View POV TV broadcast, https://www.pbs.org/pov/films/standing/
Research Interests
Water protection.
Environmental Justice.
Indigenous rights.
Human rights.
Ethical filmmaking.
Mentoring next generation filmmakers.
Teaching Interests
Social and Environmental Justice documentaries.
Satirical fiction.
Organizational and nonprofit videos.
Transforming the language of film/video production.
Equity and Inclusion in the film industry.
Office Hours
Mon and Wed 4-5PM
Tues 1-3:30 PM
Thu 10:00-10:30AM
by appt.