Shoja Azari is a writer, film director and actor. In 1998, he played the lead role in Shirin Neshat's video installation, Turbulent. Since then, he has co-edited and co-written several films with Neshat as well as created three films of his own, The Story of the Merchant and the Indian Parrot, Married Couple, and The Penal Colony. Azari is a graduate of Hunter College.