Melissa Davey – 75

Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker, Director, Producer

About me

At 65, after spending a day on set with M. Night Shyamalan, Melissa Davey made a decisive pivot: she left her corporate career to pursue filmmaking. Her debut feature, Beyond Sixty, a documentary about women over sixty, was completed in 2018 and accepted by eight film festivals across the United States and Canada, winning multiple awards. Picked up for distribution in late 2020 with a Spring 2021 release, the film is available on major streaming platforms, including AppleTV, Prime Video, and YouTube TV, as well as international airlines, library streaming, and cable on-demand.

Her second documentary, Climbing into Life, tells the story of Dierdre Wolownick, the mother of Alex Honnold (Free Solo). The film has been accepted into nineteen film festivals and has won numerous awards. Through her work, Melissa is committed to bringing older women’s voices to the forefront, normalizing their significance and contributions to society.

Before filmmaking, Melissa spent 22 years as Vice President of Social Security and Managed Disability at Genex, where she sat on the executive team and built a national advocacy program serving the disability insurance marketplace throughout the United States. Her career began in Legal Services, where she pursued Chapter 766 compliance and advocacy for disabled children, represented over 1,000 individuals before the Social Security Administration, and served as a national substantive law trainer for the Legal Services Corporation.

What do you do and why do you do it?

I make documentary films about older women. I want to change the narrative about the invisibility of older women, showcasing their resilience and continued relevance as they age.

What changed for you after age 50?

That was 25 years ago, so looking back that far, I guess I would say that after 50, I started figuring out who I really was, which led me to a big change at age 65.

What would you tell the 20 or 30-year-old YOU?

Take all the detours you run across. Don’t think that what you are doing now is what you will do forever. You have unlimited possibilities.

What do you think you’ll tell yourself in retrospect at the end of your life?

You did it right! You really lived. You grabbed for all the brass rings. You made mistakes, learned from them, and moved forward. You never gave up.

What impact do you think increased visibility can have on your business?

I make independent films. My goal is for people to see and be inspired by them, not to make money. I feel I have accomplished that in a variety of ways.