Melissa McClung
Visiting Assistant Professor in Film & Media Studies
Biography
Melissa McClung’s film and animation work has been called “casually magical,” “delightful,” and “fun and poignant” by reviewers. Melissa has above-the-line credits on films that have premiered at SXSW, CPH:DOX, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Maryland Film Festival, among many others. Melissa was nominated for 2024 Cinema Eye Honors in Visual Design for her animation direction on the Sandbox Films science documentary, The Arc of Oblivion, directed by Ian Cheney and executive produced by Werner Herzog.
In her multidisciplinary moving image work, Melissa gravitates towards themes of nature, environmentalism, retrofuturism, and childhood wonder. She works with children and nonactors to tell stories infused with imaginative elements, blurring the lines between fiction and nonfiction while employing visual experimentation. She makes films primarily in New England with regional collaborators.
Melissa earned her M.F.A. in film from Vermont College of Fine Arts and her B.A. from Vassar College. Her art has been funded by local and regional grants, including several Massachusetts local cultural council grants. In 2024, Melissa received Vassar’s W.K. Rose Fellowship.
Selected Works
The Arc of Oblivion
2023, 98 min.
Animations by Melissa McClung | Film by Ian Cheney | Sandbox & Wicked Delicate Productions | EP Werner Herzog
A documentary that illuminates the strange world of archives, record-keeping, and memory through a filmmaker’s quixotic quest to build an ark in Maine.
- 2024 Cinema Eye Honors Nominee in Visual Design, Melissa McClung
- 2024 New York Times Critic’s Pick
- 2023 World premiere: South by Southwest; Austin, TX | Intl. Premiere: CPH:DOX; Copenhagen, Denmark
All the Marbles
2022, 10 min.
Written, directed, edited, and visual effects by Melissa McClung | Produced by Nina Alexander and Melissa McClung
A girl and a magical marble save the world from total destruction. Fiction.
- 2022 World premiere: Maryland Film Festival; Baltimore, MD.
Louie’s Antiques
2019, 8 min.
Film by Melissa McClung | Filmed and edited by Melissa McClung
In Louie’s shop, antique objects get a second life—and come to life. Documentary.
- 2021 Preserved in Historic Northampton permanent archives
- 2020 Official Selection: 58th Ann Arbor Film Festival; Ann Arbor, MI | Intl. Premiere: Melbourne Documentary Film Festival; Melbourne, Australia
Office Hours
Fall 2026
Wednesday 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Friday 12:30–1:30 p.m.
or by appointment (email)