OUR TEAM

MELODY GILBERT - Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor

Melody Gilbert is an award-winning director, producer, cinematographer and editor who has directed eight feature-length documentaries that have screened at major festivals and been distributed internationally. VIEWFINDER is her first short since 2010. Melody is also a producer, writer and story consultant for other filmmakers and production companies. The films she directs are noteworthy for featuring a rare intimacy with her subjects as she unearths previously hidden worlds. She works mostly solo as a one-woman crew and has the ability to get people to reveal their innermost thoughts, whether it’s the family of a child who can’t feel pain (A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN / SXSW/ 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). Melody has received grants to support her work from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and she was named the first McKnight Foundation Artist Filmmaker Fellow. She is a film educator, currently teaching at Northwestern State University, and the founder and chair of Minnesota chapter of Film Fatales, an international organization of women who direct feature-length films. This year, 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). VIEWFINDER is her first short since 2010 when she directed “Tami Tushie’s Toys” (audience award winner of the International Documentary Challenge, premiere at Hot Docs).

More about Melody at www.frozenfeetfilm.com

MICHAEL DEERING - Photographer

Michael Deering is an avid creative and nuance loyalist. Although a storyteller by trade, photography and music have equally shared the role of his true muse for a majority of his life. Throughout the past few decades, Michael has parlayed his creative passions into a medley of opportunities that have afforded many personally rewarding and career - defining experiences. By day, Michael runs SuperStarPR ™ , a boutique PR firm specializing in creative media relations. By life, Michael
co - runs a family of four, champions film photography, hosts an annual music festival on his 1912 farmstead, and regularly finds solace atop a 1965 John Deere tractor that is often shared by - or always makes its way back to - a loving wife and sons.

Associate Producer: Dumitrita Pacicovschi
Composer: Charlie McCarron
Sound Mix: Jesse Marks