SIGIL FILMS
MELISSA JAMES • PRODUCER • DIRECTOR • ARCHIVAL
BIO
Her producing credits include the critically acclaimed feature Satan Wants You (2023), which premiered at SXSW and explores the untold story of the Satanic Panic. The film holds a 95% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was described by Variety as “the scariest documentary of the year.” Melissa also directed Witch Hunt (2023), a short documentary about political witchcraft that premiered at Salem Horror Fest and won Best Documentary at the Denver Underground Film Festival.
Melissa James is an award-winning producer, director and owner of Sigil Films.
She recently produced Hearse Chasing, a TELUS Originals documentary about a singer songwriter's journey with C-PTSD, which won three 2026 Leo Awards, including Best Short Documentary. She also received a 2025 Canadian Screen Award nomination for her work as archive producer on CBC’s Searching for Satoshi.
She previously directed and produced the cult music documentary No Fun City (2010), which screened internationally and won Best Documentary at the Victoria Film Festival. Her work as a producer and archive producer also includes the CSA-nominated Letter from Masanjia (2018), Peabody Award-winning Human Harvest (2014), ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary I’m Just Here for the Riot (2023), and Secrets of the BunnyRanch, a six-part series for A+E about brothels in Nevada.