About Octopus Film Video
Octopus Film Video makes films that tell human stories about desire, hope, ambition, change, relationships, love, and fear – through the lens of personal experience and set into contemporary social issues.
Octopus Film Video is the production company of Melanie La Rosa. Melanie has worked in documentaries since 1996 in capacities including Director, Producer, Director of Photography, 2nd Unit Camera, Associate Producer, and Assistant Editor.
She is currently working on THIS BIRD FLIES BACKWARD (working title), a film about the life and work of poet Diane di Prima. She received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (2009) and the Brooklyn Arts Council (2008) for this film.
Melanie’s first film, SIR: JUST A NORMAL GUY, premiered at the 2001 New Festival, screened around the world, won awards at the Western Psychological Association Film Festival and the Berkeley Film and Video Festival, was reviewed by Curve magazine, and screened on Free Speech TV. The film is distributed by Women Make Movies.
Her short films – RISK (2004), SCHUYLKILL DRAGONS (2003), UNITED STATES OF AUTOMOBILES (2002), and NO SAFE PLACE (2001) screened at local, national, and international film festivals.
Melanie has also worked in independent films and videos in capacities including Associate Producer, Cinematographer, 2nd Unit Camera, and Editor. Films include: “The Axe in the Attic” (Dirs. Ed Pincus and Lucia Small, 2007 premiere, New York Film Festival); “Stigma” (Dir. Tchaiko Omawale, 2005 - Provincetown Int'l Film Festival); and “Silent Choices” (Dir., Faith Pennick, 2007 - Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Festival).
Prior to filmmaking, Melanie worked with human and civil rights groups for ten years. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan. She currently teaches documentary filmmaking at Hunter College, and has also taught at Long Island University/C.W. Post, the New York Film Academy, and Downtown Community Television. She was a 2003 IFP Project Involve honoree.