Melissa Dowler is an award-winning film director and co-founder of production company Long Haul Films. She directs character-driven scripted and documentary dramas that explore connection, transformation and self-discovery.

Adele and Everything After, Melissa’s debut feature documentary, tells the story of a woman with an untreatable heart condition and the service dog who saves her life. The film premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival, went on to garner multiple awards and was released by Gravitas Ventures in 2018. Melissa is in post-production on Restarting the Motor City, a documentary about Detroit, and is developing scripted short romantic drama Twin Flames and scripted coming of age feature Falling in London.

Melissa’s work has been screened on television, at events and film festivals including Dances With Films, IFF Boston, NorthWestFest and Chagrin Documentary Festival. When not making her own films, Melissa directs films about artists, entrepreneurs and inventors for companies like Thomson Reuters, Harry’s Razors, Siemens and Techstars.

In 2016, fueled by her desire to move the needle on women’s representation in the film industry, Melissa co-founded She Sees, which has mission to inspire the next generation of diverse female filmmakers through mentorship-based educational programs.

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Melissa Dowler

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