Fredric Lean | |
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Occupation | Writer, Director, Producer. Comic Book Author. |
Fredric Lean is an award-winning documentary filmmaker known for his work about social and humanitarian issues.
Lean was born in Paris, France, from French-Italian parents but lives in the U.S. At a very early age, he participated in 2 LP records, as a lead vocal, with Max Berlin (aka: Jean-Pierre Cerrone). One record was called 'Dream Disco', followed by 'New Wave' a few years after. He's also the nephew of French disco pop icon Cerrone.
He is also known for having worked in collaboration with the French TV network M6 on the development of a TV series based on the popular French comic books entitled 'Docteur Justice' (aka: Dr. Justice) published in comics series called Pif Gadget He created a website about 'Dr Justice' to re-launch the comic franchise in 2002. The site won international web awards in 2003 and in 2004.
His first film Fragile was a 30 minutes short made in 2006 and starring Sheree J. Wilson known for prime-time television series Dallas and Walker, Texas Ranger. The short was shot in mini DV at the time and was part of the Official Selection of Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival 2006.
His second film was a feature-length documentary called IRAQ: The Wind of Hope-The Wind of Al Amal. The film explores the complicated struggle and fragmented stories of some Iraqi refugees and exiled as some of them attempt to integrate themselves into the American landscape while struggling with the demons of their past. The film was screened at the Headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in New York in June 2012. He stated in an interview it took him 4 years to make mainly because of the lack of budget and lack of interest by mainstream media. It was principally a one-man crew film (himself), except for some scenes shot in Iraq and a couple of scenes shot in the US.
His next film Skydancers is an award-winning one-hour documentary, part of a series of 8-12 episodes. This first episode is about some of the world's top women aerobatics pilots. The film was shot late 2013 during the World Aerobatics Championship in Sherman, Texas. Skydancers has been in the Official Selection of several films festivals. In October 2014, Lean won his first award for 'Best Directing' at the Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival.Skydancers won 3 additional awards ('Best Feature Documentary', 'Best Concept', & 'Best Cinematography'). In November 2014, the film won Third Place in the 'Best Feature Documentary' category at the All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival. The film has also been part of the Official Selection of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, Artemis Women in Action Film Festival, and the Manhattan Film Festival. The film was broadcast in September 2015 by RedBull Media House via their TV network, Servus TV and relayed by Astra-Satellite to more than 35 countries.