Melissa Film 2006

[Barb Magario]

MelissaP. is a 2005 erotic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino, from a screenplay by Guadagnino, Barbara Alberti and Cristiana Farina and a screen story by Guadagnino and Farina. It is based on the 2003 semi-autobiographical novel 100 colpi di spazzola prima di andare a dormire (One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed) by Melissa Panarello. The film stars Mara Valverde, Fabrizia Sacchi, Primo Reggiani, Nilo Mur, Elio Germano, Letizia Ciampa, Davide Pasti, Alba Rohrwacher, Piergiorgio Bellocchio, Giulio Berruti, Marcello Mazzarella, Claudio Santamaria and Geraldine Chaplin.

Melissa is a shy 15-year-old girl who lives with her mother Daria and her heavy-smoking grandmother Elvira, while her father is overseas working on an oil rig. She has a close relationship with her grandmother, but feels increasingly distant from her mother. On a summer afternoon, Melissa and her best friend Manuela attend a pool party at the home of Daniele, a wealthy, attractive classmate, on whom Melissa has a crush. Daniele takes Melissa to a secluded spot, where they talk for a while before he has her perform oral sex on him. Despite the less-than-romantic encounter, Melissa's feelings for Daniele only intensify.

After failed attempts to attract Daniele's attention, Melissa goes to a bar where he is with his friends. Daniele then takes Melissa to his place and she loses her virginity to him. She tells him she loves him, but he coldly rejects her. Humiliated, Melissa vows to never let anyone hurt her again and to only think of her own pleasure.

Melissa's parents decide to send Elvira off to a nursing home due to her heart condition, which further drives a wedge between Melissa and her mother. When Elvira comes home for Christmas, she senses that Melissa is going through a difficult time and tries to alert Daria, who remains completely unaware.

Arnaldo calls Melissa asking her to meet him. He takes her to an underground basement, where he blindfolds her and has her perform oral sex on him and four other young men. When Daria comes home, she is worried to find that Melissa is not home. She goes into Melissa's room and finds her diary, shocked at its contents. While unsuccessfully trying to call Melissa, Daria goes to the nursing home to see Elvira, but is soon notified of her death.

Meanwhile, Melissa goes to the apartment of an older man she met on a chat room, who takes pleasure in being whipped. However, he soon becomes violent as he starts whipping Melissa, scaring her. She manages to flee and rushes over to the nursing home. When confronted by her mother about her diary, Melissa confirms that the things she wrote in it are true. The two share a tearful embrace, as Daria apologises for being so oblivious.

On the last day of school, Melissa and Manuela rekindle their friendship. Arnaldo confronts Daniele about having sex with his girlfriend, slapping him in the face. A shy, eccentric student named Marco, who has long had a crush on Melissa, finally musters up the courage to approach her. He says he will be transferring to an art school, showing her a notebook with sketches he has made of her. He draws one last sketch of her before they kiss each other on the cheek. After Marco leaves, Daniele invites Melissa to a party at his place that night; she reluctantly accepts. At the party, Melissa jumps off a cliff into the sea as Manuela, Daniele and other partygoers look on in awe. She then emerges to the surface with a smile on her face.

Tara's Story is a documentary film, shot and edited in 2006, when I was a graduate student at Gallaudet University. At the time, we were going through the selection of a new university president but the search process was flawed, which resulted in a massive protest by students, faculty, alumni, and community members. At one point, the protests escalated so much that it resulted in a campus shut down and 134 arrested on one night (on a Friday, October 13th), which was known as the Black Friday.

MS: Working on a few things at once suits my mind. I am very busy, so I write music while I walk my dogs or drive to work. I wrote some of my favorite songs in my car. I guess to be a multi-hyphenate you have to organize your time well and I have gotten better at this. Teaching has inspired me to take more risks. When you talk with students about their growth and how to facilitate it, you in turn have to follow suit with your own work.

MS: I have seen students petrified to sing in front of one person, but at the end of the semester they are performing in front of an audience of 90 people. Singing brings people confidence. It is a raw emotional expression. With the Glee Club I try to foster leadership and collaboration. We have student conductors and section leaders. I am blown away by their talent.

MS: I admire my colleagues. I appreciate the support that the acting and filmmaking teachers give to one another. I also love the fact that the students are from all over the world. I have so much respect for foreign students who open their hearts and act in a second language. I also really like working with the veterans. I appreciate the time they served for our country and I find most of them are highly disciplined at NYFA. They are brave and want to dive into the craft.

All programs and workshops are solely owned and operated by the New York Film Academy and are not affiliated with Universal Studios, or Harvard University. GI Bill is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at Not all programs are offered at all locations.

Melissa has edited three feature films for director Sanaa Hamri: the indie romantic comedy Something Newstarring Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, and Just Wright starring Queen Latifah and (Oscar winner!) Common.

Melissa Phruksachart (prook-sa-shart) is a scholar of Asian/American media, U.S. film and television, and the broad political and libidinal economies of diversity & multiculturalism. She studies moving image media as an archive of and medium for racial formation, informed by critical race and ethnic studies, women, queer, and trans of color epistemologies, decolonial thought, and the Black radical tradition. Her scholarship and pedagogy insist upon situating media (and media studies) within the spatio-temporal frame of colonial, rather than Euro-American, modernity.

Melissa Fox is a Director, DP, Photographer and Editor in Chicago, IL. With 15+ years of experience in production, she brings her versatile skills and experience in documentary, narrative and corporate filmmaking to every creative team she collaborates with.

Welcome to my site! My name is Melissa Pinkner and I am a film student at Freestyle Academy. Freestyle has giving me the opportunity to explore many artistic mediums, and helped me realize my love of documentary filmmaking. Without the resources here, I never would have seen this as a viable career option, but I feel supported by the creative community here, and am encouraged by the careers I have seen many other students from this program make out of their passions. During our documentary unit, I learned about the logistic and technological side of storytelling, and am excited to see where these new skills take me.

In the future, I hope to make documentaries centered around travel, leading me to see remote locations around the world. I am happiest when immersing myself in a new culture, and hope to share this passion by capturing the stories I hear through film.

I was born in 1989 which makes me almost 32. Most my early childhood was still documented on film that my dad got developed at Price Club. I fondly remember disposable cameras. But my own first experience capturing images has always been on digital mediums.

My dad mentioned to me that he still had his Olympus OM-1 35mm film camera from when he was in high school. I said I might be interested in it. He had no idea if it even still worked. He gifted it to me for my 31st birthday, which happened to be two weeks into the pandemic.

These were shot on Kodak Gold 200. I know very little about actual film stocks, but this type is common, cheap and came recommended. These were developed from The FIND Lab. Click on any photo to see it larger and click back in your browser to go back to the gallery here.

Overall, I learned that I was able to expose things just fine outside when there was light. Indoors was much trickier and most my indoor shots were way underexposed, like this. Ironically an image of my notes on exposure.

My reluctance disappeared as I settled into almost three years of enjoying all the 333 Collective has to offer. This happened during Covid, so we had the luxury of connecting with each other through regular Zoom meetings. The women I met through Zoom were from around the globe and each one had something special to share in the way of inspiration. This quickly led to the design of sharing and networking gatherings led by one or more of the members, offering regular Zoom meetings where they share their passions and talents. To give you an idea some of the groups include; Travel, Designing your Third Act, EFT Tapping, Writers Group and Wellness to name a few. I will be leading a Film Club starting in the fall and I look forward to connecting with other film lovers and chatting about the films we will watch.

3a8082e126