Chris Leslie - Scottish BAFTA Award Winning Photographer / Filmmaker

Documentary Photography

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ABOUT

BAFTA Scotland (New Talent) Award winning Documentary Filmmaker, Photographer, Visual Artist

 

Chris Leslie is a BAFTA Scotland (New Talent) award winning documentary photographer and filmmaker from Glasgow. His first outset into photography was in 1996 in the war torn Balkans when he set up a photography project as a volunteer in Sarajevo orphanage. For 4 consecutive summers he worked with kids teaching the basic principles of BW photography and print making in a specially constructed darkroom.

In 2010 he graduated with Distinction in a MA in Documentary Photography from London College of Communication. His final project for his MA was a multimedia project -  Hope, memories, loss and community – that documented untold stories of regeneration in his home city. He continues that long-term project today under the title – The Glasgow Renaissance.

He works today as a freelance photographer and filmmaker and he has filmed, directed and photographed for several NGO’s and clients across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. In 2014 he directed and photographed for an appeal film that spearheaded a nationwide campaign raised over £4 million (with matched funding from the UK Government) for a project that closed and rehomed children from state orphanages in Rwanda.

As a visual artist he has been commissioned to produce exhibits and films for NLC’S Iconic Artists in Iconic Places (2013) and for Glasgow Film and Glasgow Life (2014) and his documentary film and photography work has been exhibited / screened across the UK and Europe – including the House of Commons, The EU Parliament.

As a director his first feature length documentary film – Finding Family –  was awarded two Scottish BAFTA’s in the New Talent strand as well as 2 Golden Apple awards at the BHFF NYC festival in 2014.  The film was later shown across the world after being broadcast by Aljazeera. He was also awarded a British Red Cross / SRC Media Award in the broadcast category for his short film – The Bird Man of Red Road

 

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Clients Include:

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Documentary photography from across the world for a range of NGO Clients / Press and long term photography projects.

Glasgow Renaissance

  • Photography and multimedia project that documents Glasgow as it undergoes a widescale regeneration project: Amidst this ‘Glasgow Renaissance’ whole communities, housing schemes and areas are disappearing. From the demolition of Stalinist post war high rise flats, to the levelling of Dalmarnock the death of the ‘old’ is in full swing.

Visit project website – Glasgow Renaissance >

Travelogue

  • Portraits and Places: From New York to Nepal, from Malawi to Scotland...

Home – State Institutions

  • Long term Documentary Project: Throughout Eastern Europe and CIS over 1 million children live in institutions (orphanages). Most of these children aren't orphans but poverty and family breakdown has led to many of them being abandoned.

Numb3rs Appeal – Rwanda

  • Rwanda 2014: Photographs for a major appeal by a UK Charity documenting their work of closing state orphanages in Rwanda. Photos used across TV / Press and online.

Sarajevo – Before / After

  • 1996 - 2012: Photographing from the same area over a 10-16 year period in Sarajevo

BALKAN ARCHIVE

  • SLIDESHOW: Photographs taken from the archive collection from Sarajevo 1996 - 2012

DOCUMENTARY FILM

Feature length Documentary and short films directed and filmed by Chris Leslie.

Finding Family

  • Feature Length Documentary: Capturing one orphan’s extraordinary journey as he heads back to Bosnia 20 years on from the snipers and shelling in search of answers from his long lost family. Winner of two Scottish BAFTA's (New Talent) and two Golden Apples from the BHFF NYC Film Festival

The Bird Man of Red Road

  • WINNER OF THE SRC / RED CROSS MEDIA AWARD 2014: Built in 1967, the Red Road flats in Glasgow were once home to over 4500 people. Now most of the blocks have been emptied and demolition has already begun. Jamal Hamad, a failed Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker, has lived alone in one block for several months. The demolition company are keen to move on with the demolition preparation but Jamal is refusing to move. If he does move out, he fears eviction from the UK- and if he returns to his homeland, as instructed by the UK Border Agency, he believes he will be killed- just like his parents and brothers several years ago. Living in the block alone is dangerous; but Jamal sees no other choice.

Destitution

  • DOCUMENTARY CAMPAIGN FILM: Commissioned by British Red Cross and Scottish Refugee Council this short film follows the lives of 3 destitute asylum seekers over a 9 month period in Glasgow. The film was used for a nationwide campaign calling for an end to destitution of failed asylum seekers.

 

MULTIMEDIA

Combining photography with audio and/or video to create engaging short films.

Walkabout NY

  • MULTIMEDIA FILM - 4 MINS: NYC sights and sounds on a two day trek around the city

The Oatlands

  • MA Multimedia short film: documents the disappearance and rebuilding of the Oatlands housing scheme in the south of the Glasgow.

Red Road Underground

  • Multimedia Short Film: Documents the last days of Glasgow’s iconic Red Road Flats in the form of a ‘hidden’ underground bingo hall and a nautically themed bar called The Brig.

LIGHTS OUT

  • MULTIMEDIA - TRAILER - 2 MINUTES: Latest film project from the Glasgow Renaissance Project

Paddy’s Market

  • Multimedia short film - 11 minutes: Documents the fight to save the historic flea market in the city centre over a year long period

Jaconelli

  • MULTIMEDIA FILM - 13 mins: Documents one woman's fight against eviction from her home in Dalmarnock, the site of the Commonwealth Games Development in Glasgow

CHARITY & NGO FILMS

Specialising in production of charity films - from concept, to filming and directing, to editing.

Numb3rs

  • Clients: HHC / Brandfuel: Four minute film for the Numb3rs Campaign for Hope and Homes for Children. The appeal film focused on their orphanage closure programme in Rwanda and was used to spearhead a match funding campaign with UKAID in late 2014

Charity Films Showreel

  • CLIENTS:: Big Lottery Fund, Help The Aged, British Red Cross, Scottish Refugee Council, Lumos, Mary's Meals

Woman’s Aid

  • CLIENT: WOMANS AID: Short film based around interviews of women who have been suffered domestic abuse and how turning to Woman's Aid turned their lives around

CORPORATE FILMS

Now your turn Glasgow Compilation

Now Your Turn Glasgow

The Art of Brewing

  • WEST Brewery: Short web based film promoting the Brewery as a unique wedding venue

Contact / Mailing List

Phone:

+ 44 (0) 7737-370481

Email:

chris@chrisleslie.co.uk

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