Jim Myers

Congratulatons to the 2020 Melrose Film Festival award winners! We’d like to thank all 75 filmmakers for sharing your amazing works. And a big thanks as well to all of the virtual attendees.  We recorded more than 1,100 views of the film festival programs, and received 66 votes for the Audience Choice Award.

The 2021 Melrose Film Festival will take place in September, with the submission period opening in April.

The 2020 Melrose Film Festival is underway through September 27!

You can vote for your favorite film for the Audience Choice Award through the end of the festival.

We are pleased to announce the Best of Category Winners as selected by Melrose Center Video Production Instructors and Managers:

Animated Short – “El Perro de Piedra”, Director – Brennan Brinkley

Documentary – “El Chácharero”, Director – Krisstian de Lara

Micro Short Film – “Overthinking It”, Director – Chen Sing Yap

Music Video – “June & The Jones – In My Head”, Director – Raphael Dussud

Short Film – “Rude Boys”, Director – Ken Hagen-Takenaka

Congratulations to all the winners, and to all 75 Official Selections being screened during the festival!

Hello Melrose Center Friends and Members,

We hope you all are staying well during this time. We miss seeing everyone at the Center, and very much look forward to resuming in-person services as soon as we can safely do so. As we approach what is normally an increasingly busy part of the calendar for Melrose activities, we wanted to make a few announcements regarding some unfortunate cancellations we must make in the months ahead.

Melrose Awards and Melrose Creative Expo  – As the Melrose Awards are a celebration of the best projects created over the past year using Melrose Center resources, we’ve decided to cancel the 2021 competition. There simply hasn’t been much opportunity to create projects in the Melrose Center in 2020. Additionally, the 2021 Melrose Creative Expo, which traditionally takes place in February and opens with the Melrose Awards ceremony, will also be cancelled. The Expo typically draws hundreds of attendees to the Center, something that doesn’t feel appropriate for the time being.

Technoween – Much like the Melrose Creative Expo, Technoween regularly draws hundreds of attendees to the Center each October. For that reason, we’ll need to pause this year and look forward to resuming Technoween in October 2021.

Melrose Film Festival – This September marks our 3^rd Annual film festival, and while it will not be an in-person event this year, it will continue virtually! We will soon be announcing when and where you can find screenings of this year’s selections, as well as details about staff-led virtual events on subjects related to film.

While we will certainly miss staging these events in the Melrose Center this season, we will continue to offer dozens of virtual events each month representing both online versions of our established curriculum and newly developed content. We look forward to gradually resuming in-person services and events, and hope everyone stays safe until we can once again see you at the Melrose Center.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing this week of Kendrick B. Melrose, son of Melrose Center namesake Dorothy Lumley Melrose. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.

It was eight years ago last month that Mr. Melrose presented Library Director/CEO Mary Anne Hodel with a $1,000,000 check from the Kendrick B. Melrose Family Foundation, providing the spark that made the Melrose Center a reality. In subsequent years, the Foundation provided two additional $500,000 donations, further supporting the Orange County Library System’s efforts to a provide state-of-the-art technology space for community creatives.

The 2020 Melrose Creative Expo was staged on February 15, with live performances on the Melrose Stage and in the Audio Studio, VR, green screen and simulator experiences, Fab Lab demos and Photo Studio portrait opportunities for visitors to enjoy.  The Expo began with the presentation of the 2020 Melrose Awards, honoring the top projects created in the Melrose Center over the past year.  This year’s winners:

Grand Prize and Music Recording  – Kevin Meehan and Evan Taylor Jones

Voice Recording – Ben Eisen

Video – Kim Honnell

Photo – Catelyn Richard

Digital Media Design – Jeremiah Garcia and Nicholas Walton

Maker – Danielle Kerkes

Director’s Pick – Laura Leandra

Congratulations to all the winners and category finalists!  The 2021 Melrose Awards contest will open for submissions in September.