Melissa Ferrari is a magic lanternist who creates contemporary performances rooted in the history of traditional magic lantern phantasmagoria and scientific lantern lectures.  She specializes in creating handmade animated slides based on historic designs.  Her performances include experimental documentaries, collaborations with musicians, and traditional phantasmagorias.  Melissa's feature lantern show Relict: A Phantasmagoria won the 2023 Dick Balzer Award from the UK Magic Lantern Society and the 2022 & 2024 Red Cabbage Award from the Magic Lantern Society of the US & Canada.   

 

Melissa has performed lantern shows at venues including the Hauser & Wirth, Exploratorium, Antimatter Media Arts Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, REDCAT Theater, the Philosophical Research Society, ArtYard, Cosmic Rays, Chicago Underground FF & Cucalorus.  She has been commissioned to create site-specific lantern shows at the Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics in Fort Bragg, CA and the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles.

​

Melissa is available for collaborations/commissions and to travel for lantern performances.  She frequently introduces her shows with a historical lecture and demonstration of antique slides.  Melissa is also an educator who can offer lantern slide and animation workshops to accompany her performances. 

​

Please email contact@melissaferrari.com to book a lantern show.

​

2024 LANTERN SHOWS

​

FALL 2024

September 7 | Morbid Anatomy Memento Mori Festival & Symposium | Los Angeles, CA

Beneath the Spectral Oak: A Phantasmagoria Revival

September 19-21 | Magic Lantern Society Convention | Long Beach, CA

Sempervirens, Beneath the Spectral Oak: A Phantasmagoria Revival, & Kino Lau: Many Bodies with Shrine Maiden

October 13 | The Philosophical Research Society | Los Angeles, CA

Relict: A Phantasmagoria
October 26 | The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Monster Mash | Los Angeles, CA

October 30 (morning) | Los Angeles Breakfast Club | Los Angeles, CA

October 30 (evening) | Spectral Science: Visions of the World Beyond | USC Doheny Memorial Library |  Los Angeles, CA
Phantasmagoria: Lighting the World Beyond with Dr. Franziska Kohlt

November 26 | Pareidolia: Ciclo de Cine Expandido | Centro Cultural de España en México | Mexico City

----

SPRING/SUMMER 2024

Aug 11 | Mimesis Documentary Festival | Boulder, CO

July 24 | The Philosophical Research Society | Los Angeles, CA

July 13 | Magic Lantern Festival | Mount Holly, NJ

May 4 | Bob Baker Marionette Theater | Los Angeles, CA

April 21 | The Philosophical Research Society | Los Angeles, CA

April 21 | The Getty | Los Angeles, CA

April 11 | Exploratorium | San Francisco, CA

April 4 | UnionDocs | New York, NY

March 27 & 29 | Ann Arbor Film Festival | Ann Arbor, MI

February 23 | Bob Baker Marionette Theater | Los Angeles, CA

January 13 | San Diego Underground Film Festival | San Diego, CA

​

Check back for future announcements