***WINNER of BEST FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAY***
South Film & Arts Academy Festival 6/2025
***WINNER of BEST COMPOSITION***
T.H.E. (Total HiFi Experience) Film Festival 5/2025
*** ‘HONORABLE MENTION’ ***
Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival 6/2025
***FINALIST***
East Village New York Film Festival 7/2025
Flawed. Imperfect. Fallible. How could they have not seen this coming?
All the glass ceilings they broke; empires they built; none of it could shield them from the tragedies to come. And each time another one would happen, the Meltzer family community would yet again be transformed.
It looks glamourous and perfect, envious even, from the outside looking in, but it isn’t.
Thus, may I present, a tragic love letter to my grandmother, her siblings and all descendants that would come along afterwards.
In 1912, after having been ‘sold’ into marriage by her brothers but now with three children, my maternal great grandparents, Rose & her husband, Julius Meltzer decided to run from their troubles by going to America.
You can run but you can not hide and naturally, old as well as new troubles tagged along.
Things would not go as planned when Rose’s depression sends her reeling, thereby infecting the entire family along the way, but each of her then six children would respond to the ensuing abandonment in vastly different ways with vastly different outcomes, thereby forcing an examination of obvious questions; does money care who has it? Which influences outcomes more; genetics or environment? And is there only one direction you can go when you get to the top of the highest peak?
Skin On Skin: The Rise & Fall of the World’s Largest Furrier is a psychological examination of the people that contributed to creating and destroying an empire.
The story is told by 40 different people involved; Meltzer family members, former Evans Furs Employees & industry partners. Each scene is analyzed by two psychologists, helping us to dig into the WHY of it all.
Don’t miss PARTS 2 & 3 of this three-part award-winning documentary series!
Also, a deep-dive with writer, director Scott Hunter & the 60-part source material companion PODCAST series in support of the film begins here: https://youtu.be/QNCL-x4dWc0
