Saina Molazem
Film editor and researcher. I study how editing builds fear in horror and cult cinema, and how audiences re-edit these films into cult culture.
Each cut is a decision about duration, rhythm and what the viewer is allowed to see.
Selected work
Editing and fear in horror and cult cinema
A study of how rhythm and continuity shape dread in The Lighthouse, with a companion video essay.
Iran and Neighbors: Afghanistan
Writer and director. An archival documentary on the Herat School of Persian miniature painting.
Research
My work asks how editing produces fear, and how viewers take over that editing once a film leaves the cinema.
In progress
Editing and fear in horror and cult cinema
The first part analyses editing style in The Lighthouse: how rhythm, duration and broken continuity unsettle the viewer’s sense of time and reality. The second part will examine how audience re-edits, fan videos and clip culture shape what becomes a cult film.
Film analyses
The Lighthouse, Possession, Thelma
Analyses of form, editing and the unstable mind in contemporary horror.
Links to be addedFilm criticism
Reviews of I’m Thinking of Ending Things and The Father
Two short film reviews, edited by Behnam Sharifi and published on the platform’s Instagram page.
Video essays
I use editing as a method of analysis: the argument is made with picture, sound and cuts, then supported in writing.
Editing and fear in The Lighthouse
Companion to the draft essay on editing and dread.
Video to be added (paste a YouTube or Vimeo link in the editor)Production
Directing, writing and editing work in documentary and narrative film.
Directing
Iran and Neighbors: Afghanistan
Directed the Afghanistan episode of a seven-part series on Iran’s relations with its neighbours. After five months of research on the Herat School of Persian miniature painting and its formation under Shahrokh Mirza, I wrote the outline, narration and interview questions, and shaped the final cut from interviews and archival footage. Research was carried out with project researcher Ehsan Hooshmand. Broadcast on IRINN (the IRIB news channel) from December 2024.
Trailer or clip link to be addedSilence
Written and directed as a final course project, inspired by Abbas Kiarostami’s Take Me Home. Screened in class.
Link to be addedEditing
Art & Canvas and The Range
Edited for directors Arshia Khandan and Faezeh Morshedi, focusing on pacing, rhythm and emotional storytelling.
Leila’s Brothers
Assisted the editing process on Saeed Roustaee’s feature under editor and professor Bahram Dehghani.
Short-form and platform-based editing
Professional editing of social media videos and ads in Tehran and for remote clients in Los Angeles. This work, shaped by hooks, captions and sound-off viewing, informs my interest in how platforms change the way audiences cut and watch film.
CV
- Education
- B.A. in Cinema (Editing), Soureh International University, Tehran. December 2023. GPA 18.12 / 20.
- Research interests
- Horror and cult cinema; film editing, rhythm and sound; alternative and art cinema; cinema and art history; documentary; Iranian cinema; short-form and platform-based media.
- Languages
- English (fluent), Persian (native)
- Software
- Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve
- Contact
- saina.molazem@gmail.com
- Full CV
- Download PDF
Editing and fear in horror and cult cinema
A study of how rhythm and continuity shape dread in The Lighthouse, with a companion video essay.
##A study of how rhythm and continuity shape dread in The Lighthouse
this is for the test.
coming soon
Editing and fear in horror and cult cinema
The first part analyses editing style in The Lighthouse: how rhythm, duration and broken continuity unsettle the viewer’s sense of time and reality. The second part will examine how audience re-edits, fan videos and clip culture shape what becomes a cult film.