Bio

A photograph of Melanie La Rosa standing under a bridge wearing a black turtleneck

Find out more

Award-winning filmmaker, author, and professor

2025 News!

Bio

I am a filmmaker, author, and professor. My documentaries focus on social issue stories and have generated critical acclaim and applause at film festivals around the world.

My newest film, “How To Power A City,” showcases people leading renewable energy projects in six locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Nominated for four awards, “How To Power A City” is unique in following a solutions journalism approach to look at how people in several communities are using renewable energy to solve deeply-entrenched issues, and also in being the only film to focus on community-led renewable energy projects.

2022 Public Voices Fellow

I was honored to be selected as a 2022 Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with the OpEd Project and Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, a fellowship collaboration with the two established and well-respected institutions to support new voices in climate writing. My op-eds have been published in national publications. You can read them here: Op-Eds and other writing.

Award-winning short films

On the road to releasing “How To Power A City” as a feature, several short films its footage screened around the world. One — "Solar Libre: Family Affair" — won The Director’s Award, Best Short Puerto Rico Documentary, at the 2019 Rincón International Film Festival in Puerto Rico. Others screened at film festivals in Toronto, Melbourne, San Francisco, Detroit, New York City, and several other places. You can find the full list here: Short film screenings.

Previous films

My previous films include “The Poetry Deal: a film with Diane di Prima” (2011), which was embraced by di Prima’s fan base as a rare glimpse into this legendary poet’s storied life. It remains the only documentary solely focused on di Prima’s life and work, and was made in collaboration with her. Di Prima passed in 2020 at the age of 86 and “The Poetry Deal” was included in a day-long literary and musical tribute to her at the Castro Theater in San Francisco in August 2023. “The Poetry Deal” aired on PBS and public television stations across the U.S. starting in January 2022 and within a few months broadcast literally from coast to coast, with public television stations from Alaska to Hawaii and New York To California including the film in their lineups.

My first film, “Sir: Just A Normal Guy” (2001), was released to acclaim at LGBTQ festivals and events internationally, and received as a sensitive first-person portrait of a widely misunderstood area of human experience. Both “Sir” and “The Poetry Deal” were used widely in educational settings and are in the permanent collections of the nation’s most prestigious universities.

My career has had an unswerving focus on media for social change

My work has been recognized with grants from the New York State Arts Council, the Andrew W. Mellon / Periclean Faculty Leadership Program, the Queens Council on the Arts, the Brooklyn Arts Council, The Solutions Journalism Network, The Yip Harburg Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, The Eastman Fund, and the IFP Project Involve. My celebratory video about the historical importance of LGBTQ literature, “An LGBTQI Book Saved My Life” (2014), made for the Lambda Literary Awards, was featured to outstanding reviews on www.Advocate.com.

I lead new generations of filmmakers to learn their craft and find their voices

I am a tenured professor at Pace University, in the Media, Communications, and Visual Arts Department, teaching courses in writing, directing, editing, media production, and film history/contemporary film. I focus on experiential production courses in which students make their own films, learn through hands-on production, and often work in teams with community organizations to create short videos and multimedia pieces. Student-community collaborations have included the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (a 5-minute documentary now screening in the Museum’s kiosks and for guests); Parenting, Prisons, and Pups (a short documentary about a program using therapy dogs to help women in the incarceration system learn parenting skills); and Teatown Lake Preserve (nine short documentaries about their programs, including EagleFest and Mission Eel:possible).

As an academic, my research interests include climate and story, diversity in media, and teaching methodologies for film and media production

My writing has been published in World War Zero, The Progressive Magazine, NACLA Report on the Americas, EDITMedia, the Journal of Film and Media, and Women’s eNews. I frequently speak at conferences and events, most recently, these have included the College Art Association, International Communication Association, National Communication Association, University Film and Video Association,  Broadcast Education Association, National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association, and as a moderator at the Jacob Burns Film Center. 

My producing work extends beyond my own films

Prior to entering academia full-time, I worked for Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa at Futuro Media Group as a Special Projects Producer, creating multi-platform media events for the NPR show Latino USA and the PBS series America By The Numbers with Maria Hinojosa. I also served as crew on documentaries in various roles such as post-production supervisor, cinematographer, and colorist.

Background

I earned an MFA in Film and Media from Temple University and a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan. I grew up outside of Lansing, Michigan, and split my time between New York City and upstate New York. I have lived in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Washington D.C.

Thank you for your interest in my work. Please reach out at hello [ at ] melanielarosa.com