DIRECTORS

Leslie McCleave wrote and directed the supernatural, environmental-awareness tale ROAD, which won the Outstanding Performance Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival (lead actors Catherine Kellner and Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and was acquired by Showtime and iTunes. She has written and directed several award-winning short films including Avenue X, winner of best short awards at Sundance, SXSW, Locarno and San Francisco International Film Festivals. She wrote and directed two episodic short ‘bar movies’ about tertiary brushes with fame, Blixa Bargeld Stole My Cowboy Boots (starring Michael Imperioli), a Sundance Film Festival premiere, and Meeting Marty, produced by Sundance Channel. She produced and directed the feature documentary, How Sweet the Sound – The Blind Boys of Alabama, the first film about this legendary gospel group. How Sweet the Sound premiered at the Nashville Film Festival and screened widely across the U.S. including stops at the Margaret Mead Film Festival, as the closing night film at the ReelAbilities NY Disabilities Film Festival. She created the 5-screen, 9/11 documentary installation 'cedarliberty', with visual artist Elena del Rivero. 'cedarliberty' was presented at the International Center of Photography in New York City and at the New York State Museum in Albany. Her work has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Irish Film Board and the Sundance Institute.