“WIDC quite literally changed my life. I entered the program after taking a break from filmmaking unsure of myself and my future in the industry. What I found was a nurturing and supportive community of fellow filmmakers and mentors that transformed my outlook and rekindled my drive to pursue my dreams…I doubt very much I would be here today without the experiences I had and continue to have as part of this community.”
Melanie M. Jones is an award-winning filmmaker and alumna of the TIFF Writer’s Studio, Women In the Director’s Chair, Reykjavik Talent Lab and From Our Dark Side Genre Incubator. Her first feature film, FSM, received critical acclaim, multiple nominations including a Leo Award nomination for Best Directing. It premiered at the Whistler Film Festival before getting picked up for distribution by Indiecan Entertainment. Melanie’s has made over a dozen short films that have screened at over thirty festivals around the world. In 2018 her most recent short film Shuttlecock was one of the Crazy 8’s Top 6, going on to win a Golden Sheaf Award at the Yorkton Film Festival, and the Audience Choice award at the Vancouver Short Film Festival among other awards and nominations. Up next, Melanie is a finalist in the Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative and has several projects in development across multiple genres, including a psychological survival thriller (Switchback) and a prestige science fiction TV series (IIDENT.) In her free time, Melanie loves hiking and snowshoeing in the beautiful mountains of British Columbia and hanging out with her dog, Atreides. (source: drawnonward films)