Lara studied film production and English as an undergraduate at Penn State and went on to earn her MFA in film directing from Columbia University. After spending some time at Wieden+Kennedy, she’s gone on to direct large commercial campaigns for global brands like Nike, Google, and EA Games. Her award-winning shorts and music videos have screened at film festivals worldwide and online via Short Of The Week, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and NPR, and have been included in year end ‘best of’ lists by Paste Magazine and Buzzfeed.

Lara’s debut narrative feature, Clementine, premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for best narrative feature film. Clementine was supported by Tribeca Institute, the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, and IFP, and was the only US based project invited to the 2016 Venice Biennale College-Cinema Development Lab.

Most recently, Lara was awarded the SFFILM Westridge Grant from the San Francisco Film Society, and is at work on her second feature.