Lesley Steele

Lesley Steele is a director, editor & producer of video art & documentary film. Originally a New York City native she obtained a BFA in Design Technology from Parsons The New School for Design and Masters in Directing from The School of Visual Arts. In 2020 she was chosen to participate in Sundance's Art of Editing Fellowship & subsequently appeared on Doc Nyc's "40 under 40" filmmakers list. Steele's spark in experimental 16mm cinematography & analog editing is a driving force in her work, both non-fiction & fiction. Steele's latest doc, By Way of Canarsie, was produced in 2019 with fellow Co-Director Emily Packer in a CoLAB with UnionDocs. The film is currently on the festival circuit & being distributed by Dedza Films and Kino Lorber. Dedza is empowering the next wave of emerging filmmakers and underrepresented communities through partnering with other initiatives and organizations that are focused on changing the landscape through cinema & community outreach. By Way of Canarsie is now playing in theaters across the nation including virtual cinemas. It premiered at BlackStar Film Festival, Better Cities, Doc Nyc's 2020 Virtual Film Festival and was invited to screen in BAM's 2020 Fall Virtual Series "Programmer's Notebook: New York Lives." Lesley is currently producing her first investigative feature doc about the state of mental health and its intersection with race and the carceral system in the United States. Steele is currently a member of Meerkat Media Co-operative a democratically run production company that produces artful and impactful films with an emphasis on ethical narrative storytelling, non-fiction and visual craft. Her previous clients include MTV, Nickelodeon, Spotify, TED, Buzzfeed, HBO, SnapChat, NowThis and others. You can also find Lesley via Brown Girls Doc Mafia, The Alliance of Doc Editors & Array Crew founded by Ava DuVernay.