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UNCIVILIZED

Available on Apple TV, Vimeo On Demand, and Amazon Prime Video

 
 
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About 

UNCIVILIZED is the incredible true story Detailing one Man’s Confrontation with one of the deadliest hurricanes of all time…Alone, In the wild

In 2017 Michael Lees set out to the forest with nothing more than some basic tools, religious texts and camera gear. His goal: to find a way out of the modern perils of overconsumption, technology addiction and global warming. But three months in, Category 5 Hurricane Maria - one of the most powerful hurricanes of all time - made a direct hit on Michael’s island. All of a sudden, the entire island must reckon with itself as the entire population is sent back to the stone age. Find more of Michael’s work and photography at www.michaelleesmedia.com

Read Michael’s first hand experience in the (UK) Guardian Newspaper

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 TRAILER

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Follow us across social media @uncivilizedfilm (links below)

Podcasts 

Uncivilized and Touching the Jaguar - A conversation with John Perkins, NYTimes Bestseller, activist, and author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man Author, John Perkins in conversation on the Caapi Cottage porch with Michael lees and Timothy Speaks Fishleigh. Touching the jaguar and Uncivilized is the theme of our conversation. Breaking through our fears, how plant medicine played a role. Facing climate collapse, extinction and China the new international influencer.

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Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne - Affirming the power of community-building in times of crisis (ep297)

“After [Hurricane Maria], we had our electricity knocked out, our running water knocked out, no internet, and for a good amount of time, there were no supermarkets or banks. So it was really like you had been shot back in time...”

 

Articles

THE UK GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER - AFTER A CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE, NATURE SAVED ME. IT HAS THE POWER TO SAVE US ALL

Michael’s first-hand thoughts and lessons on surviving a natural disaster on an island still connected to nature.

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“I WANTED TO PORTRAY AN HONEST VERSION OF MYSELF” - CARIBBEAN BEAT MAGAZINE

Check out this Q&A with Director Michael Lees by Jonathan Ali of Caribbean Beat Magazine. ML talks all things Uncivilized!

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DOMINICA GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

Take a look at Uncivilized feature article in Dominica Geographic Magazine’s Climate Edition digital issue !

Read More →

 

 

WATCH UNCIVILIZed/

Film Festivals

Uncivilized made its festival premiere at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival/ CARIFESTA in summer of 2019. Since then, the film has shown throughout the Caribbean and the United States. Stay updated below on where the film is showing near you!

From left : Norris Francois Jr. (Editor), Michael Lees (Director), Sheldon Casimir (Executive Producer)

From left : Norris Francois Jr. (Editor), Michael Lees (Director), Sheldon Casimir (Executive Producer)

Location                             Platform                                                    When  

St Vincent Hairouna Film Festival 03.25 2021 (8pm)

Trinidad (Virtual) Green Screen (FB+Youtube live) 10.29 2020 (7pm)

Grenada (Virtual) 1261 Film Festival 10.30 2020

Cleveland, OH Greater Cleveland Urban FF (Virtual) 09.14 2020

Virtual Virtual Island Summit 09.07 2020

San Francisco, CA San Francisco Indie DocFest (Virtual) 09.07 2020

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Film Festival 5.29 - 6.7 2020

World Wide   Studio Anansi Facebook & Youtube Live 5.23.2020

Los Angeles, California Pan African Film Festival  02.18.2020

Miami, Florida Third Horizon Film Festival 02.07. 2020

Barbados Barbados Independent Film Festival 02.06 — 02.09.2020

Bahamas Bahamas Film Festival 11.1 - 11.8 2019

Turks and Caicos Islands TCIFF 11 17. 2019

French Guiana    FIFAC 10.18.2019

Dominica  Emerald Movies     09.18- 10.01. 2019

Trinidad and Tobago    Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival 8.21 & 8. 22. 2019

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For more information feel free to email us using the form below.

 
 

The Team

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Michael Lees

Director/Editor

Michael Lees is a Caribbean-British filmmaker whose films aim to explore the relationship between the private “spiritual” world and the public shared world of society, culture and the environment. While studying at UNC Chapel Hill, Lees became interested in first-person documentary. In 2014, he made his directorial and editorial debut film, Letting Go, premiering at the UNC Swain Lot Film Festival - a short experimental doc exploring the filmmaker's shifting philosophy towards life, death and suffering through the lens of illness. Lees has written, shot, and edited for numerous clients including Billboard, Agile Films, and UNICEF. UNCIVILIZED is his debut feature documentary. Much of his inspiration is drawn from his home island, Dominica, known as the Nature Isle of the Caribbean.

 
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Nikki Abban

Producer

Nikki Abban is a first generation Ghanaian-American filmmaker born and raised in Maryland and a graduate from the University of Pittsburgh. With a Bachelor’s of Arts in Communication Rhetoric and minor in Film Studies, coupled with her work experience, Abban has grown a passion for creating captivating, influential, and genuine human-interest stories.

Recently Nikki worked as an Associate Producer at Catalyst Films for Emmy nominated Director/Producer Kristi Jacobson. Before this, she was a Production Assistant with Part 2 Pictures for Season 3 of This is Life with Lisa Ling.

Nikki’s involvement in Uncivilized began at the start of post production.  Inspired by humanity’s search for enlightenment, Nikki is thrilled to join the Uncivilized team. This is her first time as Producer and Creative Producer on a feature length documentary film.

 
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Norris Francois

Editor

Norris François Jr. is a filmmaker, photographer and editor. He has been involved in hundreds of private and public projects, ranging from weddings to local adventure films, accumulating to half a decade of expertise.Starting his career on the video streaming platform YouTube, Norris appreciates the importance of staying at the cutting edge of pop culture and mainstream video trends. Perpetually translating this knowledge allows Norris to craft content that not only recognizes its setting and context, but endeavours to push their boundaries. Having recently won first place in the Dominica Film Challenge, Norris aspires to elevate his profile by engaging more regional and international clientele.

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Sheldon Casimir

Executive Producer

Sheldon Casimir is C.E.O and Creative director at U.N.I.T.E, a multifaceted entertainment company registered and based on the island of Dominica. Sheldon and his company serve a plethora of clients by producing corporate advertising, infomercials, still photography and creative short films and documentaries. U.N.I.TE is at the forefront of producing quality content on the island and now has its eyes on the region for expansion and growth. Sheldon believes that, for there to be growth, opportunities must be created for more talent both in front and behind the lens, hence he is on a mission to empower the next generation of young people interested in all aspects of the audio visual arts to ensure that Dominica develops a niche of film production professionals. “Much like how a farmer prepares the land through fertilisation and other means, my goal is to help create an enabling environment through lobby and action to ensure that the industry can begin to flourish.”