GRAHAMLEADER

Graham Leader, New York-based founder of SeaLion Films, develops and produces character-driven scripts and documentary feature projects aimed at the international market.

1976, HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS, a documentary about Nashville’s outlaw country music scene. The film premiered at The Sundance Film Festival, 1979, and survived underground until its DVD release, 2003, to widespread acclaim. A deluxe soundtrack box-set, produced by Light In The Attic, was released in 2016. The film is being distributed in the USA by Kino Lorber. The sequel, HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS REVISITED, 2014, explores contemporary Americana through a loose-knit group of Nashville-based musicians influenced by the legendary originals. 

2001, IN THE BEDROOM, adapted by Rob Festinger from the short story “Killings" by Andre Dubus. Directed by Todd Field with Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Marisa Tomei and Nick Stahl, it premiered at Sundance where it won The Special Jury Prize. A breakout success, the film was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture.

2005, THE SAFFRON LIMITED, a six-minute film that captured the dazzling, ephemeral spirit of Christo's winter installation of The Gates in New York's Central Park. The photo-animation technique had been pioneered in HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS, 1976, which the director, Phillip Schopper, edited. 

2008, CHILDLESS, an experimental, ensemble feature shot in LA and built around serial monologues. It stars Barbara Hershey, Joe Mantegna, James Naughton, and Diane Venora and was released by Monterey Media.

2014, SHUTTLECOCK (DIRECTOR’S CUT), a WWII suspense drama starring Alan Bates and Lambert Wilson. Adapted by Tim Rose Price from the novel by Graham Swift, the film was directed by Andrew Piddington and originally shot in 1990.  However, the filmmakers considered it unfinished.  In 2014, the same producer, director and cast, led by Lambert Wilson, returned to complete the film. Twenty-five years in the making, the three-generational family saga, spans four decades and seamlessly interweaves new footage shot in 2014 in London with the original footage. 2020, it was released on Showtime.

2023, THE FRIENDSHIP BENCH, a feature documentary filmed in Zimbabwe on Dr. Dixon Chibanda. Directed by South African filmmaker, Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt, the film explores Dr. Chibanda’s revolutionary approach to treating mental illness by training grandmothers as therapists.