Spotlight on Melonie Gartner at the Time!

Northeast Wisconsin Independent Filmmaker Melonie Gartner will bring her four amazing interconnected shorts along with a new music video to the screens at the Time! On offer will be: Where the Great Spirits Live Two Rivers Breathing Underwater Swept Off and the music Video Till I Dream of You Again There will be time to speak to Melonie after the event so make sure to come out for independent film! More about Melonie: Melonie Gartner is a director, writer, producer and actress in the independent film circle. She is the creative force behind Where the Great Spirits Live;Two Rivers,Breathing Underwater Swept Off. In 2007, Melonie wrote her first screenplay for a short film — an ambitious attempt to create a low-budget, Hitchcock-inspired thriller. The project faced its share of challenges and evolved over time. In early 2014, after finding her ideal leading man, Mark Borchardt — the star and subject of American Movie — the story gained new emotional and psychological depth. Ultimately, Melonie titled her debut short Two Rivers , after the scenic Wisconsin town she called home. The warmth and support from the local community, thrilled to have a film named after their city, made the project especially meaningful. "Two Rivers” went on to find success at film festivals nationally and internationally. Encouraged by its reception, Melonie began work on its prequel, Where the Great Spirits Live; — another Hitchcock- influenced short film. Completed two years later, the project earned her the Best Female Director award in 2017 and continued her strong festival presence worldwide. Melonie continued the story with Breathing Underwater, completed in 2021. The film was well received on the festival circuit and further established her as a filmmaker with a distinctive voice and visual style. In 2024, Melonie completed "Swept Off", the final installment in the four-part anthology. The film premiered at the Door County Short Film Festival in Wisconsin and is slated for additional screenings at upcoming festivals. Completing all four films was Melonie’s vision from the very beginning — a ten-year creative journey now fully realized. Following Swept Off, Melonie directed the music video “Til I Dream of You Again”, the song written for the film. The video plays like a short movie in its own right — capturing the emotional arc and inner journey of the character, serving as both an artistic continuation and a cinematic epilogue to the anthology.