Melody Gilbert Pro

Melody Gilbert is an award-winning director, producer and educator who has created 20 documentaries in 20 years that have screened at noteworthy film festivals and been distributed internationally. The films she directs are noteworthy for the intimate connections she makes with her subjects while she is mostly filming solo as a one-woman crew, whether it’s the family of a girl who can't feel pain (A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN/Sundance Channel & Oprah), a former Vice President of the United States (FRITZ: THE WALTER MONDALE STORY/ PBS), or people who have full-fledged relationships with synthetic companions (SILICONE SOUL/ STARZ). She is also a producer for other filmmakers (40 BELOW: THE TOUGHEST RACE IN THE WORLD/ Cargo Releasing/2024) and several films that she helped produce have received prestigious recognition: a national Emmy nomination for BENEATH THE INK (2019), an Alfred I. duPont award for LOVE THEM FIRST (2020) and international acknowledgment with QUEENDOM (2024) which was shortlisted for an Academy Award for best feature documentary. 

Melody is also a passionate educator who teaches and encourages emerging filmmakers at universities around the world, including four years on the faculty in American University in Bulgaria and five years at Northwestern State in Louisiana. She is known for her "Documentary Boot Camp" that helps apriging filmmakers achieve their documentary dreams. 

Melody’s documentaries have been supported by the Jerome Foundation, MN State Arts Board and she received a McKnight Fellowship in Filmmaking. The Documentary Channel once called Melody “one of the most fearless filmmakers in contemporary documentary cinema.” 

To see trailers of most of  her films, go to: www.frozenfeetfilm.com

Her IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1745923/#director

Her films as DIRECTOR include:

Stories I Didnt Know (2022)

Judy's Thoughts (2022)

Silicone Soul (2018)
The Summer Help (2016)
Steps in the Fire (2016)
Fritz: The Walter Mondale Story (2009)
Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness (2008)
A Life Without Pain (2005)
Whole (2004)
Married at the Mall (2002)

Her most recent work as PRODUCER:

40 Below: the Toughest Race in the World (2023)

Queendom (2023) Consulting Producer

Love Them First (2019) * winner 2020 Alfred I. duPont Award

Beneath the Ink (2018) * nominated for 2019 national Emmy

Women Outward Bound (2016)

The Starfish Throwers(2015)

American Heart(2014)

Melody is also a PROFESSOR who has taught filmmaking and journalism at the University of Minnesota, Carleton College, Columbia College, and the American University in Bulgaria (2011-2015). She also teaches master classes & tutors emerging filmmakers around the world (Kosovo, Bulgaria, Moldova). In 2019,

Melody also collaborates with companies, agencies and nonprofits to create authentic branded content. Clients include Best Buy, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, BBDO & National Geographic.

She is an advisory board member & instructor at Film North, founding member of Film Fatales MN, the founder of DocuClub MN, and mentor to many.  

More about Melody and to see trailers for most of her films at: www.frozenfeetfilm.com or www.melodygilbertvideo.com