Melody Gilbert

Melody Gilbert has directed, produced, filmed and edited 13 feature-length documentaries since 2002. Her work is noteworthy for featuring a rare intimacy with her subjects as she unearths previously hidden worlds. She works mostly solo, querying her subjects from behind the camera, whether they are people who have full-fledged relationships with synthetic companions (Silicone Soul/DOC NYC), a former Vice President of the United States (Fritz: The Walter Mondale Story / PBS), or a physically healthy person who desperately wants to become an amputee (Whole/LAFF). All of Melody’s films have screened at prestigious film festivals (SXSW, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki) and have been picked up for international distribution on TV networks and on Netflix and iTunes. Melody is also a producer, writer, and story consultant for other filmmakers and production companies. Recently, two films that she produced received national recognition: a national Emmy nomination for Beneath the Ink (2019) and an Alfred I. DuPont award for Love Them First (2020). Earlier, she was producer on the James Beard award winning The Starfish Throwers (2014) and Women Outward Bound (2016/PBS). Melody has received grants from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and she was selected as the first McKnight Foundation Artist Fellow in Filmmaking. Melody is also a journalism and filmmaking professor who teaches documentary courses around the world, most recently at the American University in Bulgaria, where she spent four years on the faculty, and currently at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Her most recent feature documentary, Silicone Soul (2019), was broadcast on STARZ and on TV internationally and is now available on Amazon Prime and iTunes. She also directed the recent short documentary Viewfinder and co-directed with Rita Davern the feature documentary Stories I Didn’t Know. Melody’s most recent short documentary, Judy’s Thoughts, created using audio recordings her mother privately made while battling cancer, premiered at the 2022 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. Melody is the founder of Minnesota DocuClub, co-chair of the Minnesota chapter of Film Fatales, an international organization of women who direct feature-length films, and a huge fan of Dunn Brother’s Coffee. The Documentary Channel called Melody “one of the most fearless filmmakers in contemporary documentary cinema.”