BIOMichael Lees (b. 1992) is a Dominican (Commonwealth of) filmmaker and photographer of mixed heritage. Growing up between countries and cultures, Michael became highly sensitive to the differences between the so-called “developed" and “developing world,” and that tension became an anchoring point for his work. In both his documentaries and conceptual photography, he challenges viewers to reconsider their relationship to the natural world & natural self, playing with themes of progress, circularity, connection, and time. His work plays with the limits of witnessing, or “documenting”, while being faithful to his personal point of view.Michael attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he spent the first half of his college career studying business at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, later switching his major from business to communication studies with a focus in media production, and minors in PPE (philosophy, political science and economics) and business. The switch was due in part by becoming jaded with the idea that business could inform real change, and a belief that visual media, particularly film, was more impactful. This also allowed Michael to explore multiple themes, which he would then synthesize through film and photography tackling the question of how to build a socially just, prosperous, environmentally sustainable society. Films such as Ross McElwee’s “Sherman’s March”, and Sokly Ny’s “Aka Don Bonus '' piqued his interest in first-person storytelling.His debut documentary Uncivilized, released in 2019, led him to face Hurricane Maria alone in a bamboo hut in the forest, winning the Caribbean Spirit award at the Barbados Independent Film Festival, as well as best documentary at the Cinestar Festival in Guadeloupe in 2022. His photography has been exhibited at regional exhibitions including CAFA 2023, & the OECS-held exhibition, Climate Change: An Eastern Caribbean Journey, and belongs in several collections in the Caribbean and overseas. He is currently represented by Vetivert Contemporary Art Gallery in Dominica.In his 2021 photo series, “Moving Back, Looking Forward”, Michael recreated scenes of “normal life” in the very abnormal aftermath of Hurricane Maria, creating striking portraits in black and white, which require the viewer to take a moment and pause to see the true context and destruction hiding around the edges of the frame.Michael is the current President of The Waitukubuli Artist Association. He runs a production company in Dominica called One Off Productions working with clients such as UNICEF, National Geographic, and the Clara Lionel Foundation.