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Join us as we celebrate the art of visual storytelling in short films, animation and music videos with the 3rd annual Melrose Film Festival. This year’s festival is all virtual, with online screenings of 75 selections representing more than 20 countries chosen from over 1,300 submissions. Categories include Animated Shorts, Documentaries, Micro Shorts, Music Videos and Short Films. Melrose Center staff will also offer virtual events on scene and character development, sound effects, and 3D and motion capture animation in the days leading up to the screenings.

Visit ocls.info/melrose-film-festival for screenings and information about virtual events.

Screenings will premiere Friday, September 18 at noon and remain accessible through Sunday, September 27 at 6:00 p.m.

Congratulations to this year’s Melrose Film Festival official selections:

Animation Films
Alice in Typhoidland
Candle Lit
Cotton Cloud
El Perro de Piedra
Fred’s Night Out
Joe
Keep It Light
Kenya’s Symphony
March of the Potguins
Mr Indifferent
Oniden
St George and the Dragon
The Lighthouse Man
The Myth Of Haftvad Worm

Documentary Films
El Chácharero
Elementary Dogs
Embers
For Your Memory
Humans@Work | Portrait of a Potter
MAVEN Explores Mars to Understand Radio Interference at Earth
Siberian Powder
Taking Root
The Harvest

Music Videos
2 in a Million
Afterimage
Alien Felines From Beyond The Galaxy
Back to Selo
Buckle Winter
Devotchka “Done With Those Days”
Don’t Play With Little Hearts
Dr. Yen Lo
June & The Jones — In My Head
Mourning Mantra by Baeilou
My Research
Okami
Sadaf
Stars and Rabbit – Any Day in the Park

Short Films
Cheeky Monkey
Crocodile
Die Grossen Fragen Des Lebens
Discovery
Family Tree
Imprint
La Santa
My House
Rude Boys
Sasha & Clark
Saving Jake
Snatch
The Forest of Silence
Till Death Bring Us Together
Turing
W

Micro Short Films
After the Beep
Alien Stalker
Black Blanc Beur
Blobby
Down to Earth
Expedition Under my Bed
Family Views
Horrorscope
Jelly Cars
Modern Times (Too Much)
No Monsters Allowed
On The Beach
Overthinking It
Paul’s Lockdown Daily Timetable
Perception Blind Massage
Spoon
Textures of a Confinement
The Mother
Times
Way Back
Win – Win
Yesterday, I Bought A Bike

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 Film Festival is a daylong celebration of the creativity in filmmaking. From March 1 to May 1, the Melrose Center will be accepting submissions from categories including short film, animation, music video and more. The festival will be held on September 19, 2020 and will feature free screenings from selected films, Q&A discussions and industry panels.

Last year the Melrose Film Festival attracted 1,980 film submissions. Film lovers gathered to watch documentaries, animated films and music videos submitted from around the world. The film festival featured question and answer sessions with filmmakers and guest speakers.

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.