Melissa Starker poses for a picture in the Film/Video Theater at Wexner Center for the Arts. Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Starker
After nearly a decade at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Melissa Starker — the center’s creative content and PR manager — is back in theaters.
Starker left the Wex in May to assume the director role for the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, the country’s longest-running genre film festival, after Garen Daly — the festival’s founder and emeritus director — stepped down. For the past 50 years, Daly has been organizing the five-day film festival, complete with new, independent science-fiction films, filmmaker visits and panels, and ending with a 24-hour marathon of cult classic science-fiction films, according to the Boston Sci-Fi website.
Now, the festival is in Starker’s hands.
Starker, a Boston native, began working in arthouse movie theaters at 17. She said she worked for Daly, whom she reconnected with on Facebook years later. Starker said she got involved with the Boston Sci-Fi festival in 2023 after Daly posted looking for volunteers to help with their virtual programming. She continued to help after the festival gravitated back towards in-person events, and eventually was asked by Daly to take on his position as director.
“It’s a hell of a legacy to follow,” Starker said. “It is a little bit daunting, but the things that are working against that are, again, the strength of the team. It’s actually an all-volunteer team, and they are just really dedicated to it … I just really want to honor the work of the volunteers and fulfill the desires of the audience that’s already there, while also expanding it.”
Filmmaker Phillip Cordell (left), Melissa Starker and Emeritus Boston Sci-Fi Director Garen Daly at February’s Boston SciFi film festival. Credit: Courtesy of Phillip Cordell
Starker said she had seven years of experience in theaters prior to moving to Columbus in 1994, where she landed a role as manager at the Drexel Theatre. From there, she worked in other local theaters, such as Studio 35 and Gateway Film Center, before securing a job at Columbus Alive, a news organization that is no longer running.
“I had started a job in journalism before I left Studio [35], but I just liked being in theaters so much that I still worked one shift a week, just to kind of keep my hands in it,” Starker said.
While Starker’s career pivoted towards writing, she remained involved in the film community. Starker said she contributed to former arts festivals such as Independent’s Day and She Burns Bright, as well as jurying for the Columbus 48-Hour Film Project.
It was Starker’s time as a freelance writer at the Columbus Dispatch that brought her from movie theaters to the arts center. She said her beat was covering events and exhibitions at the Wex.
“I was covering every exhibition, and so I had an existing relationship with some folks here,” Starker said. “So, when the job became available, someone alerted me to that, and it just kind of worked out.”
While writing and film may not seem to have much of an overlap, Starker said there’s still a link between the two.
“I think the throughline is that I love talking to artists about their work and I love opportunities to share that work,” Starker said. “Whether it’s writing a story about it, doing a film program, or just attending myself.”
Though Starker was not directly involved with the center’s film programming, rather the marketing and content creation for the programs, she said she picked up on a lot of skills that will assist her in her new position.
“I mean, just being exposed to the level of film programming at the Wex on a daily, weekly basis — if you’re into film programming, it’s a geek’s delight,” Starker said. “Through the marketing work, I saw how the curators here interacted with filmmakers. I had had some experience with that, but in terms of presentation, it was another learning experience to see how much care they put into visiting filmmakers.”
David Filipi, head of film and video at the Wex, is one of many faculty members who worked alongside Starker.
“[Starker] was so committed to the spirit of the Wex — it’s, of course, sad to see her go,” Filipi said in an email. “For our department, it was great to have someone so knowledgeable about film working with us to support all of our programs, and to share our programs with as wide an audience as possible.”
Erik Pepple, director of marketing content at the Wex, shared a similar sentiment, recounting his time working with Starker.
“She was one of the first journalists I encountered way back when I was a very nervous, but eager new media relations staffer at the Wex. And from the jump, she was kind, but tenacious and fair,” Pepple said in an email. “The sci-fi festival is lucky to have her and we’ll miss her.”
Although she’s no longer working at the Wex, Starker — who will work remotely from Columbus and visit Boston periodically — said she’ll still be around.
“One of the last things I did before I left was I bought a [Wexner Center] membership,” Starker said. “I told everybody, you know, ‘You’re going to see me for International Horror all summer. You’re going to, you know, you’ll see me at the next exhibition opening. You might get sick of me.’”
