Honeyjoon is positioning itself as the indie darling of the summer—a $1 million Tribeca-winning project that proves small films with big hearts can still make waves. Director Lilian T. Mehrel gets her moment after winning the prestigious AT&T Untold Stories competition in 2024, and stars Ayden Mayeri and Amira Casar are being framed as a mother-daughter duo capable of navigating grief with style, humor, and unexpected sensuality.
Here's what nobody's saying out loud: this is essentially a grief tourism ad for the Azores. The trailer leans hard into 'sexy surfer' energy with José Condessa's character João dispensing life advice about waves while Lela and June allegedly process devastating loss. Also worth noting—Mayeri, known for action-comedy Jackpot!, is doing full dramatic work here alongside Call Me By Your Name alum Casar. The tonal whiplash from 'grief holiday' to 'sexy philosophical surfer' might raise eyebrows.
WORLD PREMIERE: Honeyjoon premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival after director Lilian T. Mehrel won $1 million in Tribeca's AT&T Untold Stories pitch competition in 2024. RELEASE SCHEDULE: Opens at NYC's IFC Center on June 10, followed by LA Laemmle theaters starting June 12, with Chicago playdates at Gene Siskel Film Center to follow.
Honeyjoon is either the most emotionally sophisticated grief comedy of the year or a gorgeous travel commercial masquerading as therapy. Either way, count us in for those Azores views—and whatever drama unfolds when mother and daughter clash over bikini lines and surf lessons.
Move over, tropical getaways with margaritas—there's a new kind of vacation on the cinematic horizon, and it comes with serious emotional baggage. Ayden Mayeri and Amira Casar are headlining Honeyjoon, an indie dramedy that premiered after winning Tribeca's coveted Untold Stories prize, and the newly released trailer promises exactly what its title suggests: something sweet with a definite bite. The film follows Kurdish-Persian mother Lela (Casar) and her American daughter June (Mayeri) as they escape to the Azores—yes, those volcanic Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic—to mark one year since a major loss.
But grief, it turns out, doesn't vacation well. The trailer reveals immediate tension between mother and daughter over how to process their shared devastation: Lela appears to want space and silence while June seems desperate for distraction, connection, maybe even permission to feel something other than sorrow. Their conflict is both heartbreaking and darkly funny—exactly the fine line director Lilian T.
Mehrel says she loves to walk. Enter João, played by Portuguese star José Condessa—a philosophical surfer and local tour guide who basically becomes the film's emotional compass. In one trailer moment that's already generating buzz, João delivers what sounds like grief counseling disguised as surf wisdom: 'When a big wave hits you, and you fall, and the world beats you up, it takes time to go back in the water.' It's the kind of dialogue that could land as profound or pretentious depending on your tolerance for metaphorical healing, but Condessa's earnest delivery suggests the film is leaning fully into earnestness over irony.
Mayeri, best known for action-comedy Jackpot!, seems committed to proving her dramatic range alongside Casar, whose Call Me By Your Name pedigree automatically elevates the project's credibility. The two share an electric screen presence that makes their disagreements feel personal—and their eventual reconciliation feel earned. By trailer's end, both women are swimming in Azores waters with something they didn't have before: a tentative will to embrace life again.
Mehrel, who won $1 million through Tribeca's AT&T Untold Stories competition in 2024 to bring Honeyjoon to life, described her directorial philosophy as wanting to be 'an orchestra conductor of emotion.' Her statement emphasized fine-tuning dark humor and surprising audiences with waves of laughter intercut with genuine feeling. 'Honeyjoon is for anyone who lives with loss,' she added. 'For anyone who wants to feel free in their body.
For anyone who has tried, and failed, to flirt.' The U.S.-Portugal co-production arrives in theaters June 10 at New York's IFC Center, expanding to Los Angeles Laemmle locations starting June 12 before heading to Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center later that month. Utopia Circle Collective is handling distribution, and if the trailer is any indication, this grief holiday might be the most visually stunning therapy session you'll watch all year.
The question isn't whether Honeyjoon will be beautiful—it clearly will be. The real question: can a film about processing devastating loss while flirting with a sexy philosopher-surfer in paradise actually deliver emotional truth? We'll find out this summer when audiences decide whether honey really does make everything better, or if some wounds require more than ocean views to heal.
