Yael Melamede is the co-founder of SALTY Features – an independent production company based in New York City whose goal is to create media that is thought-provoking, vital, and enhances the world. Melamede’s documentary credits include Death & Taxes (2025), Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely (Documentary Emmy Award Nominee 2024), Pay or Die (2023), the Jigsaw Productions/Amblin Entertainment six-part series Why We Hate (2019), When I Walk (Documentary Emmy Award Winner 2015), (Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies (2015), Desert Runners (2015), Inocente(Academy Award Winner, Best Doc Short, 2013), and My Architect (Academy Award Nominee, 2004). Yael was an architect before becoming a filmmaker. She serves on the boards of UnionDocs and the Living City Project, and is a member of the Documentary Producers Alliance and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Please List the Title of Your Film at BIFF 2025
ADA–MY MOTHER THE ARCHITECT
What was your first experience with film and how did it influence your first project?
One of my first experiences in Film was working as an intern on the ICE STORM by Ang Lee – it led to my working and embracing post production as a Post Production Supervisor before being able to produce and then direct.
Who is (are) your favorite filmmakers?
The list is too long and it changes all the time. Of the films this past year, Walter Salles because of “I’M STILL HERE.”
What are you working on that no one knows about?
I’m working on a competition series about game design!
Who would play you in a movie? What’s your go to movie snack? What’s the film title that best describes your life?
I would want to play the kind of female character that Meryl Streep gravitates towards.
If I snacked more during movies, I’d go for classic popcorn/no butter or a honeycrisp apple.
Title that best describes my life: STRANGER THAN FICTION
