Meera Menon is an Indian–American director, writer, and editor. Her feature directorial debut, Farah Goes Bang,[1] screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and was awarded the inaugural Nora Ephron Prize by Tribeca and Vogue.[2] She currently resides in Los Angeles.[3]
Menon‘s family is from Kerala, India. Menon cited her father Vijayan, a film producer and a founder of Tara Arts, an English cultural ambassador for South India that showcases musicals and films,[3] as her earliest inspiration for filmmaking, using his camera to shoot films at a young age with her next-door neighbour.[4] Menon says while her parents encouraged her to pursue the arts, her father advised her to look at it as a hobby.[4]
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.[4] Menon 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.[4] She went on to receive an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.[3]
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 that she started to get a great deal of recognition from the media.
Menon's first full-length feature film, Farah Goes Bang, 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."[5] Menon co-wrote the film with Laura Goode, who also acted as a producer.[5] 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.[6][7]
In 2015, Menon directed the female-driven Wall Street drama Equity.[8] The film premiered in Competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.[9]
In 2016, Menon also wrote and directed the short film The Press Conference for Refinery29's ShatterBox Anthology, a series of 12 shorts written and directed by women. The short premiered on Refinery29's website on 23 September 2016.[10]
She had also worked as a director on the TV series The Magicians for an episode in the third, and two in the fourth season.
According to Syfy in 2022, Menon will direct a film based on Naomi Novik's best-selling YA fantasy A Deadly Education, in development by Mandeville Films as part of a series bought by Universal Hollywood.[11]
TV series
So far, there's no early word on casting or a release date for A Deadly Education's upcoming magical matriculation in theaters.