Director of VisualThomson Reuters Foundation
Liz Mermin is a filmmaker whose documentary features have explored a wide variety of contemporary topics, including a beauty academy in Kabul opened just after the war, the tangled relationships between gangsters, police, and the film industry in Mumbai, the suppression of human rights in Azerbaijan, and the inner lives of Irish racehorses. Her films have been released in cinemas in the US and UK, broadcast internationally, and shown at film festivals around the world. She has also directed short films, including a 20-part web-series inside CERN.
Liz came to filmmaking through cultural anthropology and the study of African cinema. She has published many articles on film and current affairs, including a cover story for the Indian magazine The Caravan about the American terrorist behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Originally from New York, she came to London in 2006 to make films for the BBC and is now settled in the UK.
Since 2014 Liz has been the Director of Visual at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, overseeing a small team of journalists and freelancers making engaging short documentaries telling under-reported humanitarian stories from around the world, with a focus on human trafficking, refugees, climate change, property rights, and women's issues. Her team is also responsible for all the Foundation's conference and promotional videos.