We recently connected with Leah Michaels and have shared our conversation below.

Leah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

I am very lucky to have had many kind and generous moments shared with me on my journey to becoming a filmmaker and artist, but the following story is a wonderful memory that was from early on in my career. I was an undergraduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle. My friend and I were starting the pre-production for our first feature documentary film, Rock, Rage & Self-Defense: An Oral History of Seattle’s Home Alive, and we were both humanities majors. There wasn’t a major film department on campus, so we really had to teach ourselves how to produce a feature documentary on our own. However, our professors and administrators were very supportive, and they knew that we were going to need some funding. The administrator in the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Department pulled us both aside one day and told us that there was a grant from a major communications corporation that she thought we should apply for. Neither of us had written a grant of this stature before and she coached us along the way. To our absolute shock and surprise, we got it! She even told us that other folks were told to apply again but ours was accepted and funded right away. Her knowledge, encouragement, and support was the kindest and most incredible gift. We were so lucky! That grant eventually paid for the $6000 of sound editing that the film needed, and that was a discount price because one of my best friends from high school worked (still works) at that company. I think of this department administrator often and credit my current grant writing skills to her.

Leah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

This is going to sound a bit odd, but I knew I wanted to be a documentary filmmaker and international photojournalist from the time I was twelve. I studied history in undergrad because I knew that it would give me a strong background in research, writing, and theory but I also took a lot of cinema studies courses. I made my first short documentary while studying abroad in Greece during my sophomore year and started the production of my first feature documentary in junior year in college. The majority of my work is focused on social engagement from an international perspective. I’ve previously been heavily involved in combining art with community organizing. This work later grew when I decided to go to graduate school for a M.F.A. in Intermedia and Digital Art. I wanted to expand my practice, and learn more about the intersection of this work. The media installation and performance artwork that came out of that experience is work that I’m still expanding and exhibiting to this day. I also started to break into stop-motion animation, sustainable darkroom practices, and the best part, teaching.

I’ve been an adjunct professor for over five years now and I teach a variety of courses from media production to history of electronic media to gender theory and I love it. Working with students is incredibly rewarding and it is wonderful to be a sounding board for them while they are producing their own creative projects. I was also lucky enough to be granted a Fulbright to Poland for the 2023-2024 academic year. I was taught at a university and researched two film projects while volunteering for other community projects. In March, I taught a week long media production and stop motion animation workshop series in Kosovo. I look forward to continue international teaching.

My current short experimental documentary, Moon Crab, is on the festival circuit and so far has been accepted in eleven film festivals, nationally and internationally, and won three awards. Moon Crab was partially eco developed with seaweed. I’m looking forward to producing more experimental film work with sustainable darkroom practices. One of the films I’m working on about my ancestors is partially eco developed with plants and flowers that are indigenous to their native lands in Italy and Poland.

Returning to the graduate school experience for a second, I also participated in a mini-study abroad for a summer in Berlin. With a wonderful group of all graduate student artists and art teachers, and we were studied and researched how arts programming was being used to help integrate and provide social services for refugees and asylum seekers. This is where I plan to put my focus as well.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn, and to be honest I am still in the process of unlearning, is the idea that our lives/careers are linear or have a consistent formula.
X experience + Y degrees + Z fellowships/grants/awards = Sustainable Art/Film/Teaching Career. Unfortunately, this isn’t true at all. Something that has really helped with unlearning this is sharing and listening to so many other incredible creatives. Viola Davis couldn’t get a job for a year after winning an Oscar, Stanley Tucci couldn’t get a job for a year after The Devil Wears Prada, Rachel Dratch couldn’t get a job for a year after seven seasons of SNL. I think this helps in a lot of ways. It also really teaches us to live below our means, learn how to budget/save/invest our money, and always be willing to pivot, learn a new skill, or explore different sides of yourself. You don’t have to give up, you just have to be smart about how to really pull this off in a way that can feel semi-stable….even if a lot of what you’re doing is part-time and precarious. Also, keep sharing and being honest with each other. It’s been rough out there for a while now, so build lots of different options and paths for yourself. You’re also allowed to build an incredible multi-faceted life that might not look “normal” or “traditional”. Even folks with the types of “stable” jobs, jobs in government, tech, major corporations, have experienced mass layoffs in the past five years as well so the truth is there is no such thing as a “stable” job.

Finally, if you need a break because you feel burnt out and maybe a bit disappointed…take it. You’re allowed to take a break, you’re allowed to “leave” and come back. Remember, everything is temporary. Some of the most amazing things that ever happened in my career, happened when I took a step back and just focused on a small thing or another area of my life and all of a sudden, phone calls from curators offering solo shows just started rolling in…release some of your worry and it’ll happen.

Then again, you can always deeply define a boundary with the Universe. One of my dearest friends is a comic and graphic artist from Mexico. After working on a major graphic novel for years with multiple grant rejections she finally just said to the Universe….if you want me to continue this project on this timeline, I need clear and direct funding support as soon as possible or I’m putting this project away…right after that she got a grant. The timing and the energy lined up…and if she didn’t get the funding it doesn’t mean that the project isn’t meant to happen at all…maybe it just would not have been the best timing. Unfortunately, timing is everything and it can be impossible to predict. I recently set my own boundary/intention with the Universe….and we’ll see what happens.

A great resource for me has been: Artist U — https://www.artistsu.org

Another amazing resource is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I recently completed this book with two other creative friends. We religiously met once a week on zoom and worked our way through the whole thing. You will feel incredible after, I promise.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is sharing your finished work with the world. The conversations that happen around the work are so wonderful and you do feel like a part of something deeply greater than yourself. It does feel like magic seeing your film on the big screen. In June, Moon Crab, screened at an outdoor festival in Padova, Italy set in the middle of the river. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the festival and have two friends who live in Italy come to visit and support me. It felt like living in a dream.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.leahcmichaels.com
• Instagram: @leahcmike_art_film
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-michaels/

Image Credits

I’d like to credit Susan Allen took the picture of me kneeling in the water with the horseshoe crabs. The rest are my own photos of my work or pictures taken by other friends.