Meera Menon

Meera Menon is an Indian–American director, writer, and editor. Her feature directorial debut, Farah Goes Bang, screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and was awarded the inaugural Nora Ephron Prize by Tribeca and Vogue. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Early life

Menon cited her father as her earliest inspiration for filmmaking, using his camera to shoot films with her next-door neighbour. Since her father, Vijayan Menon, is a film producer, Menon was exposed to filmmaking from a young age. Her father is also a founder of Tara Arts, an English cultural ambassador for South India, showcasing musicals and films. Menon says while her parents encouraged her to pursue the arts, her father advised her to look at it as a hobby.

Because of this way of thinking about film, Menon did not seriously consider filmmaking as a career until she attended Columbia University, and took classes that were taught by professional filmmakers. Menon she received a BA in English and Art History from Columbia, but while she was there, she began directing films and discovered a passion for the craft. She went on to receive an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Career

In 2009, Menon wrote and directed the short film Mark in Argentina, a story about a governor searching for his mistress in Argentina. However, it wasn't until Menon released her feature-length debut when she started to get a great deal of recognition from the media.

Menon's first full length feature film, Farah Goes Bang, was the product of an idea Menon had from a university class and was partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign. In an interview with The Believer, Menon said the idea came to her while she dealt with university life, which has such a strong focus on having sex. Menon wanted to see films where women exploring their sexuality later in life was not seen as abnormal. The film was described by Jennifer Mills as one that, "explores many genres: the road movie, the sexual coming of age movie, the political film, the buddy movie.” Menon co-wrote the film with Laura Goode, who also acted as a producer. The film is under Elephant Shoe Pictures, a production company Menon created with her partner, Paul Gleason. Not only did Menon win the Nora Ephron Prize for Farah Goes Bang, but the film also won awards at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and CAAMFest.

Menon also works as an editor for Larry King Now, and has done camera work and art direction for other independent projects.

For her latest project, Menon has signed on to direct an upcoming female-driven Wall Street drama. The film, named Equity, is being produced by Broad Street Pictures. Broad Street was founded by Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas to produce films with strong females both in front of and behind the camera. Reiner will also star in the film. Equity is scheduled to debut at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2015	Equity	Director
2013	Farah Goes Bang	Writer, director and producer	Nominated – Best Director, Winter Film Awards Nominated – Best Film, Winter Film Awards Nominated – Best Narrative Feature, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Nora Ephron Prize, Tribeca Film Festival Best Feature, San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
2009	Mark in Argentina	Writer and director

External links

• Official website
• Elephant Shoes Pictures
• Interview with the Believer