Leigh Morfoot

Leigh Morfoot

Documentary Filmmaker: Co-Director, Producer, Sound Recordist

Leigh started out at Maysles Films where she cultivated an appreciation for filmmaking that captures life and lets it speak for itself; then, she spent nearly a decade at the American Museum of Natural History production managing its award-winning documentary division. She earned a B.A. in African-American Studies and English Literature at the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Media Studies at the New School University.

Throughout this time, she and her husband and filmmaking partner, Jason, have produced Direct Cinema inspired shorts for international companies, academic institutions and local non-profits, as well as independent films. The Morfoot’s narrative short, In-between Worlds premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival (2014), Capital: Impressions of Early Empire premiered at Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin (2004) and their feature documentary Citizen 3.0 is distributed by Filmakers Library (2008).

Currently they are in post-production on a feature documentary, School District—a boots on the ground meditation on public education. The film chronicles Connecticut's Stamford Public Schools working throughout the pandemic, reimagining equity, and starting the process of dismantling its own structural racism and inequality. It is a poignant reminder of the fundamental role public education plays in our society that will contribute towards a more grounded and informed dialogue about public education in the United States.

In addition to School District, they are in development on Choice Neighborhood: A federally funded revitalization project designed to reduce poverty and segregation inspires a filmmaking team to explore how it will change their home town. A journey into community veers into an artistic struggle to grasp an uncontainable story and an interrogation of the right to tell it.