Suzi Yoonessi

Suzi Yoonessi (born February 21, 1978) is an American filmmaker. She wrote and directed the award-winning feature film Dear Lemon Lima, and directed the Duplass Brothers film Unlovable and Daphne and Velma for Warner Brothers. Yoonessi's short films No Shoulder and Dear Lemon Lima 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.

Suzi Yoonessi was born in Buffalo, New York, where she attended Nichols School. Yoonessi was a member of Buffalo's first all-female band Bertha Mason during the Riot Grrrl movement in the early 90s. Yoonessi studied photography and film at the San Francisco Art Institute. Upon graduation, she worked for Surface Magazine in the editorial department and moved to New York to pursue filmmaking after being awarded a Jerome Foundation grant for her documentary film Vern. Yoonessi received her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts 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.

Suzi Yoonessi's first feature film Dear Lemon Lima 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, and was released by Orion Classics.[10] Yoonessi directed The Spring of Sorrow[11] for the Independent Television Service series FutureStates and the hit series The Dead Girls Detective Agency for Snap Originals.[12] In October 2019, it was announced that Yoonessi is developing an original film with Walt Disney Animation Studios.[13]