About Me

Hi, I’m Melvin Harris, executive director of The Bankrupt Cinema, LLC, and Provost of The Institution Collective. I am an award-winning content creator and professional educator with experience in the Houston Independent School District, Aldine Independent School District, and Galena Park Independent School District. I received my BA in Professional English from Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC, and hold state certifications in Technical Applications (AV, Practicum in AV, and Advanced AV Production) and 4-8 Generalist, as well as an industry certification in Adobe Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve, and I am a certified expert and trainer of trainers.

I have been working to educate children for about 25 years; my mother, a 46-year classroom veteran, gave me the gift of the teaching bug at an early age. Although my great love is film, teaching is in my blood, and I have been blessed to merge the two. During my tenure at Galena Park Middle School, I created the school's first all-color yearbook, created their award-winning film/multimedia program, which placed 1st in their division in the Hewlett-Packard and NBA co-sponsored HP Digital Assist Competition and was awarded $87,000 dollars in equipment and grants, and produced professional videos at the administrative level with my 6,7, and 8th grade students. 

After almost a decade of success in middle school, I moved to Galena Park High School and began working there. I have continued working with amazing students and creating award-winning educational experiences at North Shore Senior High School, where I have been awarded for excellence in video production. I have created commercial content for worldwide audiences with my students, supervised the Athletics Department streams, screened award-winning student films in Austin, England, and other countries, and served as a judge for UIL Film competitions. My students have been screened in the Texas High School competition at SXSW (South by Southwest Film Festival), Cine Las Americas Film Festival, and the All-American High School Film Festival, earned scholarships and grants in filmmaking, and matriculated at top-tier film schools, including but not limited to the University of Texas at Austin, St. John University, NYU Tisch Film School, and work in Hollywood as production assistants and on programs like Access Hollywood.

I am also a professional filmmaker with several projects in development and production, and a feature film, Third Wheel at Christmas, currently in post-production and slated for a Winter 22026 release. I have also worked in live sports production. I currently reside in Houston, TX.