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 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 suffix 'ham', the Old Engli ...

, Surrey, Slee studied Art & Design at

Kingston University , mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress" , established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute , type = Public , endowment = £2.3 m (2015) , ...

, 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. It specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation, film, graphic design, photography and sound arts. It has approximately ...

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

ACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...

-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 In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, using

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

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 film making, co-devising and directing ''Wildfire – Feel the Heat'' for the Discovery Channel, 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. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

. The film was a semi-finalist at the 2004

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, 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 owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

television series, the film was selected for the

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

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

Flight of the Butterflies ''Flight of the Butterflies'' is a 2012 Canadian documentary film directed and co-written by Mike Slee for 3D IMAX, starring Megan Follows, Gordon Pinsent, and Shaun Benson. The film covers Dr. Fred Urquhart's nearly 40-year-long scientific inve ...

''. Covering Dr Fred Urquhart's nearly 40-year-long scientific investigation into the monarch butterfly. 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 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. In 2021, with 7 ...

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 United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republ ...

, 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'' (2008) * ''The Secret Life of Primates'' (2009) * ''Hammond Meets Moss'' (2010) * ''Atlas 4D'' (2010) * '' Engineering Connections'' (2008–2011) * ''Richard Hammond's Journey to...'' (2011) * ''

'' (2012) * '' 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 People from Surrey Heath (district)