Honeyjoon Director on Grief in Movie: 'What It Feels Like to Be Alive'

Director Lilian T. Mehrel tells viewers to expect a thrill ride with twists and turns for Honeyjoon, a dark comedy about a grieving mother and daughter holidaying in the romantic Azores.

“What I love to do is take audiences on a roller coaster ride of laughter and emotion,” Mehrel, who premiered Honeyjoon at the U.S. Tribeca Festival and is now set for a European premiere for her film at Tribeca Festival Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal , told The Hollywood Reporter.

That metaphor of a thrill ride with emotional highs and lows is apt for the indie movie about Kurdish-Persian Lela, played by Call Me By Your Name actress Amira Casar and her American daughter June (Ayden Mayeri) as their Portugal trip marks the one-year anniversary of a major loss and Mehrel has her leads forever at od