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Francis Meletzky, born as Franziska Meletzky 1973 in Leipzig, studied German philology, culture and media studies, and English literature in Leipzig from 1993 to 1997. She then changed to Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen "Konrad Wolf" in Potsdam-Babelsberg and graduated in 2004. During the course of her studies, Meletzky already finished several award-winning short films.
Her graduation film "Nachbarinnen" ("Wanted!") was nominated for the "First Steps Award 2004" and won the DEFA promotional award as well as the award as "Best movie" at the international film festival in Miscolc, Hungary. Meletzky's next film, the ensemble tragicomedy "Frei nach Plan" ("According to the Plan"), already won the people's choice award at the 2007 Leipzig film art fair and the awards for "Best film" and "Best actresses" at the 2007 Shanghai film festival even before its official release in March 2008.
After this, Francis Meletzky completely focused on TV work, directing episodes of popular German TV series such as "Stromberg", "SOKO Leipzig" and "Bloch". From 2011 on, she directed a number of TV films as well. Her psycho thriller "Es ist nicht vorbei" about a woman who recognises a renowned physician to be her torturer during GDR times was nominated for the Grimme-Preis. She also received much critical acclaim for "Wegwerfmädchen" and "Das goldene Band" (both 2012), two films focusing on women trafficking and forced prostitution in Germany. Other important TV productions directed by Meletzky include "Die kalte Wahrheit" (2014) about a physician who investigates a fatal accident that she caused, the finance thriller "Vertraue mir" (2015) with Julia Koschitz and Jürgen Vogel as well as the family drama "Nur eine Handvoll Leben" (2016) about a mother who learns that her unborn child has trisomy 18.
In 2017, two films of Francis Meletzky were screened on TV and in cinemas that deal with the GDR in very different ways. Set in 1988, the TV production "Verräter – Tod am Meer" focuses on Red Army Faction dealings in the GDR, while her comedy feature film "Vorwärts immer!" tells the story of an actor who disguises himself as Erich Honecker in order to stop the shoot-to-kill order against the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. For "Vorwärts immer!" Meletzky won the "Best Director" award of the Bavarian Film Awards in 2017.
Francis Meletzky is living with her family in Potsdam-Babelsberg.