Leelai Demoz
Leelai Demoz | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, producer, theater artist |
| Known for | On Tiptoe, Difret, Steppenwolf Theatre |
Leelai Demoz is a producer and theater artist. He is an Academy Award-nominated producer whose work spans film, television, and theater.[1][2]
He is the founding partner of Highwire Media, a film, television, and theater production company based in Chicago.[3]
From 2019 to 2022, Demoz served as the Associate Artistic Director of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.[4]
Career
[edit]Demoz's documentary On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom (2000), about the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).[5] The film also received an Emmy Award nomination.[6]
Demoz was a producer of Difret (2014), executively produced by Angelina Jolie. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award.[7] Difret also won the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.[8]
He is a former recipient of an SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant.[9]
At Steppenwolf Theatre, Demoz helped develop Steppenwolf NOW, the company's digital programming during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10][unreliable source?][11]
Demoz is a public speaker and panelist. He has participated in programs such as "Black History 24/7/365" at Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre,[12] and events at UCLA's African Studies Center.[13]
Earlier in his career, Demoz served as the Executive Director of the Schoolhouse Foundation in New York.[14]
Selected filmography
[edit]- On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom (2000) — Director, Producer
- Difret (2014) — Producer
Personal life
[edit]Demoz is married to Kelly Demoz (née Kelly Marie Moriarty).[15]
References
[edit]- ^ "73rd Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
- ^ "Academy Awards, USA 2001". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
- ^ "Animals: a new play by Matthew-Lee Erlbach, produced by Highwire Media". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ "Rising in a pandemic: Steppenwolf's new $54 million theater campus". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ "Academy Award Nominees 2001". International Documentary Association.
- ^ "Public Lives; Suddenly on the Radar in Hollywood's Stratosphere". The New York Times.
- ^ "'Difret' Wins World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance Festival". Tadias.
- ^ "'Difret', 'Circle' win Berlin audience awards". Screen Daily.
- ^ "Meet the Latest SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant Finalists". Filmmaker Magazine.
- ^ "A Digital Stage the Steppenwolf Way: Catching Up with Leelai Demoz". BroadwayWorld.
- ^ "Steppenwolf NOW: What Is Left, Burns". Steppenwolf Theatre.
- ^ "How to celebrate Black History Month in Evanston". Evanston Roundtable.
- ^ "Leelai Demoz at UCLA African Studies Center". UCLA African Studies Center.
- ^ "Budget Dispute Stalls a Plan to Build New Schools". The New York Times.
- ^ "Kelly Marie Moriarty and Leelai Demoz". The New York Times.