Bio

Sheila M. Sofian's films are a hybrid of documentary and animation. Sofian has produced seven independent animated films. Her films have exhibited internationally at the Annecy Animation Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Hiroshima International Animation Festival, Zagreb Animation Festival, and CaixaForum in Barcelona, Spain, among others. Sofian's films are distributed educationally and in home video markets. 

Professionally, Sofian’s freelance work includes animation for the feature film "Closetland", titles for the feature film "10 Things I Hate About You", “The Strip”, and MTV. She has also worked as staff animator for Metapa, Inc.

Sofian studied at The United World College of South East Asia in Singapore and Old Dominion University in Virginia before receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film and Animation at the Rhode Island School of Design and her Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts.

Sofian has taught painting-on-glass and documentary animation workshops internationally at several institutions including the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, Tokyo University of the Arts, Central Academy Of Fine Art in Beijing, China, the University Of Buffalo and the Kansas City Art Institute.  She developed curriculum and designed coursework for Documentary Animation Production and has written on the subject.  

Sofian was head of the Animation Program at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia from 1992-1997. She chaired the Animation Program at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita from 2001-2006. Sofian is currently a Professor at the University of Southern California where she has been teaching since 2006. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Short Films and Feature Animation branch.