Born in Tehran in 1963, Katayoon Shahabi has a PhD in French literature. She started her work in 1982 as a film promoter in the "Farabi Cinema Foundation" (FCF), which had an important role internationally by introducing Iranian Cinema to the world and worked with well-known filmmakers such as Abbas Kiarostami, Bahram Beizaei, Mohsen Makhmalbaf,...
In 1994 she collaborated to launch Cima Media International (CMI), a semi-private company that produced and marketed Iranian films and Television productions and introduced some extraordinary Iranian directors to the world. This led her to experience co-production of world-wide successful documentaries and feature films.
Katayoon was also the first person in Iran who organized for CMI an International Market for Iranian films and television programs, TIM (Tehran International Market) in 1995.
In 2001, she launched her own company, Sheherazad Media International (SMI), which in a short time gained a reputation for its keen eye and introduced many talented directors, such as Asghar Farhadi, Mohammad Rasoulof, Rakhshan Banietemad…
At present, SMI is one of the most important private companies active in co-production and worldwide distribution of Iranian feature, documentary and short films. She produced or co-produced some films per year such as “A Brief Peace” by Ata Hayati, Veil of Dreams, Daughter of Malakeh, "Moving Up" (the best first film in Fid Marseille, "Nessa" that was Winner of the Honorable Mention on Hot Docs, "Sepideh" in 2015 with Berit Madsen was in Sundance and many other festivals.
She launched her France-based company, Noori Pictures in 2012 to be able to expand her work at the international level more efficiently. With Noori Pictures she continued to introduce talented directors and intriguing films to the world, such as "Tales" of Rakhshan Banietemad which won the Best Screenplay in Venice 2014. In 2013, she produced documentary named “From Iran, A Separation” which is about the reaction of Iranians to the Oscar granted to "A Separation" of Asghar Farhadi.
Katayoon is a Member of the Documentary and Fiction Producers Guild.
She also has a lot of experience as jury member in international festivals (16 times) such as IDFA, San Sebastian Film Festival (as Chairwoman), and the main competition of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
With Noori Pictures she had "Nahid" in Un Certain Regard of Cannes and "Wednesday, May 9" in Orizzonti of Venice in 2015, both of which were awarded. She had "Inversion" in Un Certain Regard, Cannes and “Wednesday, May 9” in Orizzonti of Venice 2016. In 2017, she was in Venice with “No Date, No Signature” that won two prizes in Orizzonti and many others in about 60 festivals it has attended until now. Katayoon’s latest film as the producer is the first independent Afghan film by a young woman director, Sahraa Karimi, named “Hava, Maryam, Ayesha” that was completely shot in Kabul of Afghanistan and was selected for Orizzonti of Venice 2019.