Michael John Slee (born 23 August 1959) is a British film-maker, producer/director and writer.

Life and career

Born in

Windlesham Windlesham is a geographically-large village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately south west of central London. Its name derives from the Windle Brook, which runs south of the village into Chobham, and the common suffi ...

, Surrey, Slee studied Art & Design at

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

, and graduated with a first class honours degree from the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

in Photography, Film and TV. He first achieved industry recognition for directing James Burke, in the 1989 ACE Award-winning

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary series ''After the Warming''. This prescient series dealt with the issue of

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

, using

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

computer simulations. Slee then directed a 20-part

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

series with Burke, called '' Connections 2''. By 1997 he was at the forefront of large screen

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

film making, co-devising and directing ''Wildfire – Feel the Heat'' for the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

, and ''The Legend of Loch Lomond'' for the Strathclyde European Partnership. In 2003 he co-wrote and directed ''BUGS 3D!'', a $9 million IMAX 3D natural history drama, narrated by

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage ...

. The film was a semi-finalist at the 2004

Oscars The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence i ...

, and was awarded the GSTA Lifelong Learning Honor in the same year. Slee directed the 2005 British television programme, '' The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend''. In 2008 he directed the feature film '' Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins'', which was narrated by

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ...

. Based on the ubiquitous

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

television series, the film was selected for the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

. In 2011 he began filming the IMAX 3D project ''

Flight of the Butterflies ''Flight of the Butterflies'' is a 2012 Cinema of Canada, Canadian documentary film directed and co-written by Mike Slee for 3D film, 3D IMAX, starring Megan Follows, Gordon Pinsent, and Shaun Benson. The film covers Fred Urquhart, Dr. Fred Urquha ...

''. Covering Dr Fred Urquhart's nearly 40-year-long scientific investigation into the

monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. I ...

. Principal filming of the one-year project was completed in early March 2012, The film had its world premiere on 24 September 2012, at the Smithsonian's

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

in Washington, D.C., hosted by the

Federal government of Mexico The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the Mexico, United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the ...

, through the Mexico Tourism Board and the Embassy of Mexico.

Filmography

;As director * ''The Kid'' (1986) * ''After the Warming'' (1989) * '' Connections 2'' (1989) * ''Wildfire: Feel the Heat'' (1999) * ''The Legend of Loch Lomond'' (2001) * ''Bugs'' (2003) * ''Megastructures'' (2004) * '' The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend'' (2005) * ''Perfect Disaster: Ice Storm'' (2006) * ''Voyages of Discovery'' (2006) * '' Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins'' (2008) * ''Into the Unknown with

Josh Bernstein Josh Bernstein (born February 24, 1971) is an American explorer, author, executive producer, survival expert, anthropologist, and TV host best known as the host of '' Digging for the Truth''. He later appeared for one season as the host of the ...

'' (2008) * ''The Secret Life of Primates'' (2009) * ''Hammond Meets Moss'' (2010) * ''Atlas 4D'' (2010) * ''

Engineering Connections ''Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections'' is a British documentary series originally broadcast on the National Geographic Channel, and later on BBC2. It is presented by Richard Hammond, and looks at how engineers and designers use historic ...

'' (2008–2011) * ''Richard Hammond's Journey to...'' (2011) * ''

'' (2012) * '' The Great Martian War 1913-1917'' (2013) * '' Colombia, magia salvaje'' (2015)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slee, Mike 1959 births English television directors English film directors English screenwriters English male screenwriters English film producers Living people Alumni of Kingston University Alumni of the London College of Printing People from Windlesham