Lilian Mehrel is an award-winning young filmmaker who distills the humor and poetics of life into stories.
She was born to a Kurdish-Iranian mother and German-Jewish father, sparking her life-long experience of multiple worlds: from melting-pot Miami public school to college at Dartmouth, from the sciences to storytelling.
Her cinematic eye for universalities was shaped by her work connecting young people from conflicting countries – with Seeds of Peace, the U.S. State Department, a Kathryn Davis Peace Project, and YALA Peace – a creative leadership program for diverse girls she founded at the Arab Jewish Community Center of Yafo. As a Dartmouth Senior Fellow, she wrote and illustrated a 226-page family memoir.
As an MFA candidate at NYU Graduate Film, she has written, directed, edited, and produced multiple projects, including a James Franco behind-the-scenes series.
Her films have won her awards from ABC/Disney, a New York Women in Film and TV membership, an Alfred P. Sloan production grant, Tisch and Kanbar scholarships, and nominations for Kodak, National Board Review, and BAFTA awards. She is a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow for New Americans.
Lilian’s films illuminate the surprise moments of human connection and emotion – and surprise her audience with laughter and tears. Maira Kalman called her work “epic and cinematic… full of heart and curiosity.” Lilian promptly fainted.
Lilian T. Mehrel is an award-winning writer & director with a visionary sense of feeling and humor.
Lilian’s films have premiered at Tribeca and screened internationally at Clermont-Ferrand, and her awards include ABC/Disney and HFPA. Featured in Variety, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, and The NYT, her body of work includes Water Melts, created with MG Evangelista and supported by Tribeca and Google, Musica Quarantena, created with Danielle Rhoda starring Elisa del Genio (HBO’s My Brilliant Friend), and The Loneliest, an Alfred P. Sloan awarded film starring Madeline Wise (HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm).
She earned her MFA from NYU Tisch Grad Film, and her BA from Dartmouth with a Senior Fellowship. A mixed-ethnicity daughter of immigrants, she also authored/illustrated a family memoir and is a PD Soros Fellow. Lilian was selected for Ad Age The List Generation Next 2022 as a rising star director/writer. She brings her creative direction and story sensibilities to star-studded campaigns for brands like Calvin Klein and Estée Lauder.
Lilian inspires audiences to laugh and cry with her funny, hopeful swirl of cinematic poetry.
