Melissa Parry has worked in the film industry as a freelance editor since 2005. She works on feature films, documentaries, wildlife, artist’s films and series, such as Netflix’s first African Original Queen Sono (2020) and documentary series Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star (2022).
She is driven by a strong desire to keep refining her craft and has vigorously pursued opportunities to expand her skills-set as an editor through, for example, multiple workshops and masterclasses.
In 2010 Melissa’s creative work as an editor was recognised by peers with the awarding of the South African Guild of Editors (SAGE) acronym. She was nominated for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative (2012) and has won multiple international awards for her work on the wildlife films Birth of a Pride (2019) and Okavango: River of Dreams (2020). In 2022 Melissa was welcomed by the American Cinema Editors (ACE) as an International Partner member and participated as a panelist in the ACE EditFest Global 2022 panel Editing for the World.
In 2013 she enrolled and completed a part-time master’s in History of Art at the University of the Witwatersrand where she used film as a research tool to investigate the biographies of a selection of objects in the Standard Bank African Art Collection.
Melissa has also worked with South African artists Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, Mohau Modisakeng, Nandipha Mntambo, Gabrielle Goliath and William Kentridge to create artist films shown across the world. Including The South African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2017) and Birmingham 2022 Festival running parallel to the Commonwealth Games (2022).
PARRY, M. 2021. Chapter 37: Moving images, moving perceptions: An interrogation of the use of film as a productive art history tool. Seen, Heard and Valued: WAM celebrates 40 Years of the Standard Bank African Art Collection, pp. 308-314.
DE BECKER, L. & PARRY, M. 2014. Chapter 4: Deciphering the trace: Matano for Domba by Nelson Mukhuba. Lifelines: Object Biographies from the Standard Bank African Art Collection. Johannesburg: Standard Bank Gallery, pp. 39-46.
2021
Excerpt from Johannes Maswanganyi (Video) for the exhibition Seen, Heard and Valued: WAM celebrates 40 Years of the Standard Bank African Art Collection
ACE EditFest Global 2022
Editing for the World moderated by Alexander Berner, ACE
Panelist with Jean-Daniel Fernandez Qundez, ACE, Ahmed Hafez and Kasper Leick
The News & Documentary Emmy Awards 2022
Judge in the Best Documentary category
Moderator in the NETFLIX VFX Course hosted by TEMPO and it’s associate SAGE
Lecturers: Liyana Mansor BFE, Lukas Lerch BFS, Daniëlle Nel
London Film School 2022
Attendee: Masterclass with Maya Maffioli
Rough Cut Lab 2021
Consultant
Microsoft EMEA University Recruiting team and their interns 2021
Discussion with Kagiso Lediga about our creative experience and working processes on Queen Sono (Netflix)
Durban International Film Festival 2016
Judge: Best South African Feature Film
Durban Talent Campus 2015
Moderator: Editing panel – Keep you Editor close
Durban Talent Campus 2014
Panelist: Editing panel – Editing to the Beat
Durban Talent Campus 2013
Moderator: Editing panel – Laying the cut
Durban International Film Festival 2012
Panelist: Editing panel – Deep Cuts: The Art of Editing
Durban Talent Campus 2012
Presented the Editing Masterclass – Editing for engaging storytelling across fiction and non-fiction films
London Film School 2011
Attendee: Sound and Music Techniques for Narrative Filmmaking by Gustavo Costantini
Durban Talent Campus 2010
Selected as a participant in the Talent Campus
Maine Media Workshops 2008
Attendee: Film Editor’s Master Class by Robert Q. Lovett
Attendee: The Art of Editing by Alyer J. Breau
Women of the Sun 2008
Attendee: Kill your Darlings by Susan Korda
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