Suzi Yoonessi (born February 21, 1978) is an American filmmaker. She wrote and directed the award-winning feature film ''

Dear Lemon Lima ''Dear Lemon Lima'' is a 2009 family comedy feature film written and directed by Suzi Yoonessi. Based on her short film of the same name and developed with the support of Film Independent and its Filmmaker Labs, this film is about a 13-year-old ha ...

'', and directed the Duplass Brothers film '' Unlovable'' and '' Daphne and Velma'' for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

. Yoonessi's short films ''No Shoulder'' and ''

'' are distributed by Shorts International and Vanguard Cinema and her documentary film ''Vern'' is distributed by National Film Network and is in the permanent collection of the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

Biography

Suzi Yoonessi was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, where she attended

Nichols School Nichols School is a private, non-denominational, co-educational college- preparatory day school in Buffalo, New York, United States. The average enrollment is 570 students with an average Upper School grade/class size of 98 students. The average ...

. Yoonessi was a member of Buffalo's first

all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...

Bertha Mason during the

Riot Grrrl Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a sub ...

movement in the early 90s. Yoonessi studied photography and film at the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximatel ...

. Upon graduation, she worked for ''

Surface Magazine ''Surface'' is an American publication covering design, architecture, fashion, culture and travel; with print and digital publications. The publication has an online presence through the ''Design Dispatch'' daily newsletter, as well as through ...

'' in the editorial department and moved to New York to pursue filmmaking after being awarded a

Jerome Foundation James Jerome Hill II (March 2, 1905 – November 21, 1972) was an American filmmaker and artist known for his award-winning documentary and experimental films. Career Hill was the child of railroad executive Louis W. Hill. He was educated at Ya ...

grant for her documentary film ''Vern''. Yoonessi received her MFA from

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts, (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, Visual Arts, The ...

where she was the recipient of the FMI Directing Fellowship. She currently resides in Los Angeles and is a director at

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

Directing

Suzi Yoonessi's first feature film ''

'' premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival where it received critical acclaim and a jury prize for Outstanding Performance. The film went on to play in over 80 film festivals, picking up audience awards and a grand jury prize at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. The film was released internationally, then domestically on VOD and in theaters in Los Angeles and New York by Phase 4 Films. Yoonessi's sophomore film ''Unlovable'' received a special jury recognition at the

SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

, and was released by

Orion Classics Orion Classics started in 1982 as the distribution label for the then independent film production company Orion Pictures, now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was relaunched in 2018. The original focus of 1980-era Orion Classics was on acquirin ...

. Yoonessi directed ''The Spring of Sorrow'' for the Independent Television Service series FutureStates and the hit series
The Dead Girls Detective Agency
' for Snap Originals. In October 2019, it was announced that Yoonessi is developing an original film with

Awards

* 2018 Emmy Nomination Outstanding Directing * 2018 Special Jury Recognition

* 2017 Sun Valley Film Lab Award Winner *2014 Funny or Die's 1st Annual Make Em' LAFF Award -

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

*2010 Camério Irvin Pelletier Humanitas - Festival International de Cinema Jeunesse de Rimouski *2010 Camério Hydro-Québec - Festival International de Cinema Jeunesse de Rimouski *2010 Miloš Macourek Award -

Film Festival Zlín A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

*2009 Audience Award -

Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival that was launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto with the goal to bring high quality independent film to the Hudson Valley region. The festival takes place each fa ...

*2009 Audience Award - Anchorage International Film Festival *2009 Emerging Star Award (Savanah Wiltfong) - Anchorage International Film Festival *2009 Spirit of Independence - Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival *2009 Finalist, Bandeira Paulista -

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival ( pt, Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A non-profit event, the festival is organized ...

*2009 Grand Jury Prize -

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every March in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asia ...

*2009 Outstanding Performance (Shayne Topp) -

*2008 Tribeca All Access On Track Grant *2008 Film Independent Kodak Grant *2007 National Geographic All Roads Film Grant *2006 Jerome Foundation NYC Media Arts Grant *2002 Jerome Foundation NYC Media Arts Grant

Filmography

Director

*2019 ''Insatiable'' *2018 ''The Dead Girls Detective Agency'' *2018 ''Unlovable'' *2018 '' Daphne and Velma'' *2017 ''Relationship Status'' *2015 ''Olive and Mocha: First Kiss'' *2015 ''Troop Hood'' *2015 '' Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street - Gortimer and the Lost Treasure of Normal Street'' *2011 ''Olive and Mocha: Fast Times at Sugar High'' *2010 ''The Spring of Sorrow'' *2009 ''

'' *2006 ''Dear Lemon Lima'' short *2005 ''No Shoulder'' *2004 ''Vern''

Producer

*2005 ''

Me and You and Everyone We Know ''Me and You and Everyone We Know'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Miranda July. She also acts in the starring role, opposite John Hawkes. The film was the first major studio production for July, who had bee ...

'' (Associate Producer) *2004 ''Vern'' *2001 ''3 Weeks After Paradise''

References

External links

Suzi Yoonessi's Official site
* * *
Netflix

Flux

Video Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoonessi, Suzi American people of Iranian descent American women screenwriters 1978 births Living people American women film directors Writers from Buffalo, New York Writers from Los Angeles Columbia University School of the Arts alumni San Francisco Art Institute alumni Film directors from Los Angeles Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from California 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American screenwriters Film directors from New York (state)