Melissa Jean Woodside

Melissa Jean Woodside is an award winning Canadian and British conceptualist, actor, creator, and entrepreneur whose creative contributions span over a decade. Melissa's career originated in independent film world in the UK, where she studied acting and integrated herself in the London independent film and theatre communities, absorbing all she could about story at Judy Dench's Questors, The London Actors Centre, BAFTA, Raindance, the National Theatre, Cours Florent Paris, and more. This led to the birth and co-creation of Catfish Shorts Film Festival. She simultaneously wrote, produced, and directed various short films including Irish based comedy "Green Sweater Guy" which sold on Amazon UK, and award winning period drama "Podsnappery". She also won "Best Performance" for a 24 hour "Made at TIFF" competition, and created and acted in a long-form champagne commercial in the South of France alongside legendary John Rhys Davies (Lord of the Rings). The ability to use media as a tool and use her voice to start a conversation is at the core of all she does. Melissa has spent her life working with diverse teams to shine a light on natural beauty and ironies in life where possible. Melissa fuses her scenography instincts and vision with the practical skills derived from years in various roles in production. She has worked in areas involving the production of film, theatre, and commercial productions in Vancouver and overseas for a variety of clients. Her practical sense is bolstered with her law degree, and media law training. While working in business affairs on Two Sentence Horror Stories, Melissa is also excited to launch her first feature-length doc, which she hopes can create real and positive change in animal rights and food autonomy for societies to come. Melissa resides in Vancouver and London UK.