Lee Fields: Faithful Man
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Documentary, Music
Lee Fields is a funk and soul legend, 50 years in the making. In this feature documentary, his journey through soul music history will take you from vinyl to virtual — and back again.
Lee Fields: Faithful Man
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Documentary, Music
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
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Lee Fields is a funk and soul legend, 50 years in the making. In this feature documentary, his journey through soul music history will take you from vinyl to virtual — and back again.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
GET THE FILM! WWW.TINYURL.COM/LEEFIELDSDOC
Photo credit: CourTney Collins / Non Linear Knitting Studios)
Lee Fields: Faithful Man is a feature music documentary about legendary soul singer, Lee Fields.
His voice has been compared to James Brown, but Lee Fields is no knock-off. He’s the real thing. Listening to the soul sounds coming through his transistor radio in the fifties and sixties, Lee was hooked. Through the seventies, he made his living as a singer touring alongside some of the greatest names in blues and soul history, including a stint with Kool and the Gang before their rise to fame.
But, as the seventies came to a close, disco began its reign and Lee's soul career plummeted. For decades, he thought his music dreams were dead. But with one phone call, everything changed…
Jessamyn Ansary was first introduced to Lee’s music in 2013, when she stumbled across a music video for “Faithful Man.” She was struck by the power of his voice, so she approached Joyce Mishaan, a longtime friend, about partnering on the project. At first Joyce was reluctant to commit to such a massive undertaking, but Jessamyn persuaded her to spend a day filming with Lee. One day was all it took.
On that first shoot, Joyce experienced what we later came to call, “the power of Lee” – that magnetic, awe-struck feeling that nearly everyone gets when first in Lee's company. It’s the feeling of being in the presence of a legend.
Lee brings to every single performance an energy and intensity that is unparalleled and difficult at first for younger generations – raised on auto-tune and softsynth – to even comprehend. And as it turned out, this experience was not ours alone; it was, on some level, the experience our entire generation was having as we grappled with the effects of the digital revolution while longing for an analogue past we’d barely been alive to see.
On that first day, Lee performed a song for us in his suburban garage studio - but it might as well have been Madison Square Garden. We were in awe.
Then Lee sat us down and told us his story. It's a story of an artist's perseverance to find his voice and express himself fully. It's a story of a man who had faith in himself and his creative vision, even through decades where he could not see how that vision would come to life. As young filmmakers, we were inspired by Lee's life experience; little did we know, his ability to persevere against the odds would actually become our filmmaking roadmap. Over the ten years it's taken us to get this movie made, we ultimately realized we had to take a page from Lee's book — and learn what it means to have faith.
So began a 10-year odyssey to understand “the power of Lee” – the man, the music, and the sonic history that his story embodies.
In 2022, we had our world premiere at the Charlotte Film Festival, in Lee’s home state of North Carolina, where we won the audience award for Best Documentary Feature!
We then had a sold-out New York City premiere at DOCNYC, and the film has subsequently gone on to play at film festivals in dozens of cities all over the world: from Spain to The Netherlands, to Poland, Australia, Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis and more.
But now, with an offer for streaming distribution hanging in the balance, we've hit a funding hurdle - so we're reaching out to our amazing community for help getting this film over the finish line and out into the world!
JESSAMYN ANSARY is a writer, producer and filmmaker with 15+ years of experience creating content for networks and platforms like HBO Max, Hulu, National Geographic, Travel Channel, Oxygen, Food Network, and many others. Jessamyn got her start as an associate producer on acclaimed director Michael Apted’s documentary Married in America. She was part of the producing team on the Emmy-nominated healthcare documentary Escape Fire, and on multiple HBO feature docs and series, including Americans in Bed and Real Sex. Recent projects include writing true crime scripts for Oxygen channel’s popular series’ Snapped and Killer Couples; co-producing The Jewel Thief, a feature true crime documentary for Hulu; casting the leads on the HBO Max series Swiping America; producing a series of short branded documentaries for eBay; and writing for Time Stamped, the e-commerce wing of Time Magazine.
JOYCE MISHAAN is a filmmaker and producer from Brooklyn, NY. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, she has created short and long form content for major networks including HBO, Nat Geo, Discovery+, TLC, Food Network and branded documentary content for clients including Nike, eBay and more. She has created documentary shorts for Yahoo’s Makers Conference, and for former Vice President Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality. She was part of the producing team for the 2014 Emmy-nominated feature documentary Escape Fire: the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. In TV, she was Showrunner and Executive Producer of Food Network’s Ciao House, and Senior Producer for the hit show Chopped. She was also one of the Executive Producers on TLC’s famed 90 Day Fiancé franchise. Joyce is the Producer and Co-EP of Brooklynification, a comedy series about gentrification for BRIC TV/Amazon Prime, and she is currently producing a feature with director Keith Miller, in post-production. Lee Fields: Faithful Man is her directorial debut for a feature documentary, with Jessamyn Ansary. When not making films, Joyce is also a coach for filmmakers and other creative professionals, helping them to take the leap into creative work that truly ignites them.
Hailed by Rolling Stone for “his classic American soul sound,” LEE FIELDS is arguably the greatest pure soul singer alive today. In an age when the shelf life of an artist largely depends on posturing and trends, he has proven to be an unassailable force of nature. His prolific five-decades-plus career spans more than twenty albums and over forty singles, a supreme, still-evolving body of work which continues to garner attention via samples by such heavyweight artists as J. Cole, Travis Scott, Rick Ross, and A$AP Rocky as well as outside-the-box collaborations like the worldwide dance club hit, “Jealousy,” with French DJ/ producer Martin Solveig.
CHRISTOPHER POINDEXTER is the co-creator, writer, and producer of BRIC TV’s Brooklynification; a Digital series The New York Times described as a “ sharper than most...well-acted and well-written...understated satire.” After graduating Columbia Law School, Chris has been practicing as a transactional media Attorney in New York City. Chris has assisted many NYU students and other young filmmakers by investing, producing and providing legal advice to their projects. In 2011, he wrote and produced his first short film, a scripted comedic look at black life at Princeton entitled, Their Eyes Were Watching Gummy Bears. Chris is also a Board Member of the non-profit Reel Works, a one of a kind program in Brooklyn which gives underserved young filmmakers one-on-one mentoring with filmmaking professionals. In 2016, Chris was the Executive Producer of Reel Works’ first feature film, 72 Hours: A Brooklyn Love Story. Chris was selected by Brooklyn Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture”.
COURTNEY COLLINS is a two-time New York Emmy award-winning editor, DP, and story producer. After receiving her masters degree, Collins relocated from Ohio to New York and has since worked on commercials, documentaries, and broadcast television programs for NBC, PBS, Nat Geo, Fox, COZI TV, and related digital platforms. Most recently, Collins was credited as editor and producer of the feature length documentary for Lionsgate with nationwide theatrical release in over 900 theaters. Collins organizes creative meet-ups in her Jersey City studio, “NLK Studio,” and uses her talent to promote local artists and advocate for underserved communities. She teaches editing for the film program at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
MARC SMOLOWITZ is a multi-award-winning director, producer, executive producer, and consulting producer who has been significantly involved in 50+ successful independent films. The combined footprint of his works has touched 250+ film festivals & markets on 5 continents, yielding substantial worldwide sales to theatrical, television, and VOD outlets, notable box office receipts, and numerous awards and nominations. His credits include films that have screened at top-tier festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Venice, SXSW, Tribeca, Locarno, Chicago, Palm Springs, SFFILM, AFI DOCS, IDFA, DOC NYC, CPH: DOX, Thessaloniki, Tokyo, Melbourne, Viennale, Jerusalem, among others. In 2009, Marc founded 13th Gen, an S.F.-based company that works with a dynamic range of independent film partners globally to oversee the financing, production, post-production, marketing, sales, and distribution efforts of a vibrant portfolio of films and filmmakers. The company has successfully advanced Marc's career-long focus on powerful social issue filmmaking across all genres. In 2016, he received one of the prestigious Gotham Fellowships to attend the Cannes Film Festival's Producers Network marking him as one of the USA's most influential independent film producers. Learn more at http://13thgenfilm.com
The daughter of immigrants, BRITTANY DOUZIECH is a first-gen music supervisor from Los Angeles. She began her career at Fuel TV, putting together creative music ideas for docu-style content and assisting on shows featuring weekly musical guests from Bad Religion to the likes of Chromeo and Public Enemy. She became the in-house music supervisor for one of the largest independent television production companies, working across major network shows for almost a decade before venturing out on her own. Brittany currently freelances on documentaries and both scripted film and television. Her projects have been released on major outlets such as PBS, Netflix, HBO Max, Starz, Paramount+ and Hulu and screened at variety of festivals including Tribeca, AFI, Blackstar, Doc NYC, Doc N Roll and SXSW. She often works alongside two separate veteran music supervisors, Joe Rudge and Frankie Pine, where she has most recently contributed to several projects, including: “A League of Their Own” (Amazon), “From Scratch” (Netflix), Emmy nominated series “Daisy Jones & the Six” (Amazon) and Life & Beth (Hulu).
JERMAINE “MAINFRAME" FLETCHER is a composer and producer based out of New York and New Jersey. The son of musician parents, Jermaine grew up surrounded by jazz and funk. These influences are the foundation of Jermaine’s sounds, which are a fusion of electronic, soul, hip-hop and classical. Since graduating from Florida A&M University with a degree in broadcast journalism, Jermaine has also become an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, whose productions include projects with ESPN, Bloomberg, CBS and several feature films. Jermaine recently finished scoring the short doc The Panola Project, which screened at Sundance in 2022. The film first premiered for The New Yorker in August 2021. Other recent projects include Brooklynification, a comedy series produced by BRIC TV; TUF Gaming (ASUS), world-wide product release; and Scabal (Design & Fashion), commercial global product release.
REBEKAH NELSON is a filmmaker hailing from Queens, NY. She produced the indie feature Living with the Dead (Lion Hearted Films), which is available on Amazon Prime worldwide. She frequently collaborates with The Sparrow Film Project, writing & directing several short films for their festival. Such shorts include Eurydice And..., The Drop, Cytokine Cascade, A Christmas Carol: Stave V and Mister Warren's Neighborhood. She is the Co-founder of FreeBox Films, short film credits include Dakota (producer) and The Shoulder (director/producer). Nelson starred in the feature American Bomber, which was promoted by the NYC mayor's office as part of the MADE IN NY campaign. She received a B.A. in theatre arts from Marymount Manhattan College & majored in drama at the Professional Performing Arts School in NYC.
After a ten-year journey to tell this story, we could not be more thrilled to be able to share it with the world and preserve Lee's legacy for generations to come — but there’s just one last thing standing in the way: the final finishing funds. While it’s never easy to ask for help, we now have an offer for distribution hanging in the balance, so we are humbly seeking support from our community and from Lee’s fans in our final effort to get the film out into the world.
You're probably wondering: if the film is finished, then what costs remain? Here's a quick breakdown:
(Photo credit: CourTney Collins / Non Linear Knitting Studios)
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
E&0 Insurance
Costs $3,800
In order to distribute the film, it’s necessary to purchase errors and omissions insurance.
Licensing Fees
Costs $9,200
The film includes archival material, which helps us tell the full story from past to present. Licenses must be upgraded for distribution.
Legal
Costs $6,000
As we negotiate contracts and process paperwork for distribution, it’s essential to be able to access legal council.
Post Production Labor
Costs $6,000
We worked with an amazing post production team on this film, and their labor has allowed us to finish the audio mix and final finishing work
PR
Costs $5,000
Good PR is an important component of any film’s release; it will greatly enhance our ability to reach potential audiences.
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About This Team
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER – Jessamyn Ansary
JESSAMYN ANSARY is a writer, producer and filmmaker with 15+ years of experience creating content for networks and platforms like HBO Max, Hulu, National Geographic, Travel Channel, Oxygen, Food Network, and many others. Jessamyn got her start as an associate producer on acclaimed director Michael Apted’s documentary Married in America. She was part of the producing team on the Emmy-nominated healthcare documentary Escape Fire, and on multiple HBO feature docs and series, including Americans in Bed and Real Sex. Recent projects include writing true crime scripts for Oxygen channel’s popular series’ Snapped and Killer Couples; co-producing The Jewel Thief, a feature true crime documentary for Hulu; casting the leads on the HBO Max series Swiping America; producing a series of short branded documentaries for eBay; and writing for Time Stamped, the e-commerce wing of Time Magazine.
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / CINEMATOGRAPHER - Joyce Mishaan
JOYCE MISHAAN is a filmmaker and producer from Brooklyn, NY. With 15+ years in the industry, she has created short and long form content for major networks including HBO, Max, Nat Geo, Discovery+, TLC, Food Network and branded documentary content for clients including Nike, Lululemon, eBay and more. She created documentary shorts for Yahoo’s Makers Conference, and for former Vice President Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality. She was part of the producing team for the 2014 Emmy-nominated feature documentary Escape Fire: the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. In TV, she was Showrunner and Executive Producer of Food Network’s Ciao House, and Senior Producer for the hit show Chopped. She was also one of the Executive Producers on TLC’s famed 90 Day Fiancé franchise. Joyce is the Producer and Co-EP of Brooklynification, a comedy series about gentrification for BRIC TV/Amazon Prime. She is currently producing a feature with director Keith Miller. Lee Fields: Faithful Man is her directorial debut for a feature documentary, with Jessamyn Ansary. When not making films, Joyce is also a coach for filmmakers and other creative professionals, helping them to take the leap into creative work that truly ignites them.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – Christopher Poindexter
Christopher Poindexter is the co-creator, writer, and producer of BRIC TV’s Brooklynification; a Digital series The New York Times described as a “ sharper than most...well-acted and well-written...understated satire.” After graduating Columbia Law School, Chris has been practicing as a transactional media Attorney in New York City. Chris has assisted many NYU students and other young filmmakers by investing, producing and providing legal advice to their projects. In 2011, he wrote and produced his first short film, a scripted comedic look at black life at Princeton entitled, Their Eyes Were Watching Gummy Bears. Chris is also a Board Member of the non-profit Reel Works, a one of a kind program in Brooklyn which gives underserved young filmmakers one-on-one mentoring with filmmaking professionals. In 2016, Chris was the Executive Producer of Reel Works’ first feature film, 72 Hours: A Brooklyn Love Story. Chris was selected by Brooklyn Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture”.
MUSIC SUPERVISOR - Brittany Douziech
Being from a diverse family, Brittany was introduced to a wide variety of music at a young age by her parents and close family friends. She often found herself lost to time, spending hours sitting by the radio creating mixtapes and curating songs for friends and class projects. In college she studied journalism with an emphasis in world music history; the first at her university to do so. Post college, she got her start in music supervision at Fuel TV, pulling music and assisting on shows featuring a wide variety of weekly musical guests from Dillinger Escape Plan to the likes of Chromeo and Public Enemy. After Fuel, she interned with music supervisor Frankie Pine, where she worked on a variety of scripted projects including ABC’s Nashville and HBO’s Newsroom. Brittany currently works as an in-house Music Supervisor for one of the largest independent TV production companies, where she has worked on several major TV, cable and web shows. She continues to freelance on various doc/film/web/tv projects and also dabbles in booking shows.
*Member of the Guild of Music Supervisors / ARRAY Crew / BGDM (Brown Girls Doc Mafia)
COMPOSER - Jermaine Fletcher
Jermaine “Maineframe" Fletcher is a composer and producer based out of New York and New Jersey. The son of musician parents, Jermaine grew up surrounded by jazz and funk. These influences are the foundation of Jermaine’s sounds, which are a fusion of electronic, soul, hip-hop and classical. Since graduating from Florida A&M University with a degree in broadcast journalism, Jermaine has also become an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, whose productions include projects with ESPN, Bloomberg, CBS and several feature films. Jermaine recently finished scoring the short doc The Panola Project, which screened at Sundance 2022. The film first premiered for The New Yorker in August 2021. Other recent projects include Brooklynification, a comedy series produced by BRIC TV; TUF Gaming (ASUS), world-wide product release; and Scabal (Design & Fashion), commercial global product release.
LEAD EDITOR – CourTney Collins
CourTney Collins is a two-time New York Emmy award-winning editor, DP, and story producer. After receiving her masters degree, Collins relocated from Ohio to New York and has since worked on commercials, documentaries, and broadcast television programs for NBC, PBS, Nat Geo, Fox, COZI TV, and related digital platforms. Most recently, Collins was credited as editor and producer of the feature length documentary for Lionsgate with nationwide theatrical release in over 900 theaters. Collins organizes creative meet-ups in her Jersey City studio, “NLK Studio,” and uses her talent to promote local artists and advocate for underserved communities. She teaches editing for the film program at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
EDITOR – Amanda Katz
Amanda Katz received her MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College– City University of New York, and holds a BFA in Film & Television Production from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Her films have received grants from institutions such as the New York State Council On The Arts and The Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. She works professionally as a film editor, and has taught film production courses at Fordham University, Hunter College and Rutgers University. Her work has screened at film festivals, museums, galleries and community spaces including The San Francisco International Film Festival, The Ann Arbor Film Festival, DOCNYC, Antimatter [Media Art], Encuentros del Otro Cine Festival Internacional, Athens International Film and Video Festival, Artists' Television Access, The Haverhill Experimental Film Festival, UnionDocs, The Carrack Modern Art, FRACTO, The Sunview Luncheonette, The Astoria Historical Society, and Microscope Gallery. As a film editor, Amanda works primarily on projects that are documentary in nature. Her latest editorial credits include Crooked Lines (directed by Monica Berra, Yoruba Richen & Jacqueline Olive for Field of Vision / 2018), The Washing Society (directed by Lynne Sachs & Lizzie Olesker / 2018 / Premiered at BAMcinemaFest) and An Empty Threat (directed by Josh Lewis / 2018 / Premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam).
CO-PRODUCER - Linda Saffire
LINDA SAFFIRE has worked on numerous award-winning film and television productions. Among her feature documentary and film credits are A Conversation with Gregory Peck, which was invited as a special selection to the Cannes 2000 Film Festival; Wild Man Blues a feature-length film on Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band; Married In America, a multi-year documentary by acclaimed director Michael Apted; and Smash His Camera, a collaboration with Adam Schlesinger and Academy Award-winning director, Leon Gast, (When We Were Kings). Smash His Camera, a feature-length documentary about famed paparazzo, Ron Galella, won Best Director at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary by the 2011 Producers Guild Awards and the 2011 News & Television Emmys. Ms. Saffire has also worked in dramatic series television: for HBO, the pilot and the first season of Sex and The City; Disney Channel’s, The Speed of Life, CBS Television’s, Central Park West; Nickelodeon’s, The Adventures of Pete and Pete; and Jim Henson Productions’ CityKids. Ms. Saffire also creates films for The Emmys, The Oscars’ Red Carpet Pre-show, The Comedy Awards, Eddie Murphy: One Night Only and most recently ITVS’s Independent Lens.
CO-PRODUCER - Keith Miller
Keith Miller is a filmmaker, artist, curator, and professor based in Brooklyn. In 2015 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow. He has been awarded a Jerome Film and Video grant and a Rooftop Production grant. He is the co-creator and director of the comedy web series Brooklynification (with Christopher Poindexter), looking at gentrification in Brooklyn and commissioned by BRIC TV. Keith’s feature film Five Star premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival where it won Best Editing for a Narrative Feature. It had its international premiere at the Venice Biennale and went on to play numerous festivals including Thessaloníki, Cairo, Rio De Janeiro, Seattle, New Orleans and many more. It is distributed in North America by Xlrator Media and internationally by AMC/Sundance International. Keith’s first feature film, Welcome to Pine Hill, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance Film Festival 2012, the Grand Jury Prize at the Atlanta Film Festival, the FIPRESCI Grand Jury Prize for New American Cinema at the Seattle International Film Festival, a Special Jury Prize for Performance at the Sarasota Film Festival and an Honorable Mention at the Nashville Film Festival. In North America it is distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories and internationally by AMC/Sundance International. In 2022 This Much We Know, Directed by Lily Henderson, premiered at Camden International Film Festoval and DOCNYC, produced by Keith with Joey Carey. This Much We Know has received grants from Cinereach and the Jerome Foundation.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:
LOGAN GAGLIARDI is a rising producer with over 7 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Starting her career in publicity and event planning, Logan pivoted to development and set production with a focus in unscripted content for television & film. She has worked for a variety of networks and brands such as Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Showtime Networks, The International Emmy Awards and most recently independent TV production house, MY Entertainment.
With over 15 years in the television industry, JENNY GNIRKE is a seasoned producer renowned for her work on impactful documentary shows like MTV's "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom." She has played a key role in launching first-season docu-series, including TLC's "Extreme Sisters" and Roku's "Match Me in Miami." As the showrunner for the reboot of ID Channel's acclaimed series "Disappeared," she led teams in post and field, consistently delivering high-quality shows. Her extensive experience reflects a passion for authentic storytelling and a proven track record in shaping captivating narratives.
KHADIJAH FORTE is a talented reality television producer and casting director from Houston, Texas. With a career spanning since 2002, Khadijah has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. Khadijah's expertise lies in casting for reality television, where she has made a name for herself as a skilled talent producer and associate producer on shows like Married at First Sight, Ready To Love and Food Truck Face Off. Her keen eye for talent and ability to bring out the best in her cast members has earned her a loyal following among industry professionals. In addition to her work behind the scenes, Khadijah has also made a name for herself as an actor, appearing in several national commercials. She is represented by Boysen Talent in Texas and Linda Layman agency in Oklahoma. Khadijah is known for her dedication to her craft and her ability to bring out the best in everyone she works with. She is a skilled collaborator who values teamwork and communication, and is always looking for new and innovative ways to approach her work.
GINA HOUSEHOLDER is a documentary filmmaker and editor based in Southern California. She received a B.A. in film from CSULB in 2018, where she worked on several student films - including a CSU Media Arts Festival winner. She has since worked in a variety of genres including commercial, wedding, and nonfiction media.
PAULA SHAFFER is a screenwriter who currently resides in Durham, NC. She has worked in both production and casting on shows for an array of networks including ABC, Netflix, Hulu, HGTV, and the Hallmark Channel. Her television pilot, “Charlie Nobody,” and feature film “Chompers” were both selected projects of Stowe Story Labs. “Chompers” was also a semi-finalist in the 2022 Emerging Screenwriters contest,and placed on the Coverfly Red List. Paula is also a regular contributor to Book & Film Globe, an independent pop-culture and literary review site.
JESSE ZIEBART is a Seattle-based Producer with over ten years of experience in television and film. Jesse has contributed content to networks such as Bravo, A&E, Lifetime, National Geographic, PBS, HBO Max, Food Network, and others, and has expertise in areas of casting, development, story, and has also directed music videos and spent extensive time in the field. Jesse was a Producer for COVID POV (Swirl Studios), a documentary film which used video diaries submitted over the course of a year to tell the stories of individuals in lockdown during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other documentary work includes: 15 Minutes of Shame (HBO Max), a feature doc about the history of public shaming and executive produced by Monica Lewinsky; Aly Raisman: Darkness to Light (Lifetime) a documentary special about the journey of healing from the perspective of survivors of sex abuse in the USA gymnastics; Invisible Monsters: Serial Killers in America (A&E), a docuseries about serial killers of the 1970s; and The American Presidency. a docuseries executive produced by Bill Clinton (History). Jesse studied French at the Sorbonne, music at the American School of Modern Music, and drama at the Lee Strasberg Workshop.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
GET THE FILM! WWW.TINYURL.COM/LEEFIELDSDOC
Photo credit: CourTney Collins / Non Linear Knitting Studios)
Lee Fields: Faithful Man is a feature music documentary about legendary soul singer, Lee Fields.
His voice has been compared to James Brown, but Lee Fields is no knock-off. He’s the real thing. Listening to the soul sounds coming through his transistor radio in the fifties and sixties, Lee was hooked. Through the seventies, he made his living as a singer touring alongside some of the greatest names in blues and soul history, including a stint with Kool and the Gang before their rise to fame.
But, as the seventies came to a close, disco began its reign and Lee's soul career plummeted. For decades, he thought his music dreams were dead. But with one phone call, everything changed…
Jessamyn Ansary was first introduced to Lee’s music in 2013, when she stumbled across a music video for “Faithful Man.” She was struck by the power of his voice, so she approached Joyce Mishaan, a longtime friend, about partnering on the project. At first Joyce was reluctant to commit to such a massive undertaking, but Jessamyn persuaded her to spend a day filming with Lee. One day was all it took.
On that first shoot, Joyce experienced what we later came to call, “the power of Lee” – that magnetic, awe-struck feeling that nearly everyone gets when first in Lee's company. It’s the feeling of being in the presence of a legend.
Lee brings to every single performance an energy and intensity that is unparalleled and difficult at first for younger generations – raised on auto-tune and softsynth – to even comprehend. And as it turned out, this experience was not ours alone; it was, on some level, the experience our entire generation was having as we grappled with the effects of the digital revolution while longing for an analogue past we’d barely been alive to see.
On that first day, Lee performed a song for us in his suburban garage studio - but it might as well have been Madison Square Garden. We were in awe.
Then Lee sat us down and told us his story. It's a story of an artist's perseverance to find his voice and express himself fully. It's a story of a man who had faith in himself and his creative vision, even through decades where he could not see how that vision would come to life. As young filmmakers, we were inspired by Lee's life experience; little did we know, his ability to persevere against the odds would actually become our filmmaking roadmap. Over the ten years it's taken us to get this movie made, we ultimately realized we had to take a page from Lee's book — and learn what it means to have faith.
So began a 10-year odyssey to understand “the power of Lee” – the man, the music, and the sonic history that his story embodies.
In 2022, we had our world premiere at the Charlotte Film Festival, in Lee’s home state of North Carolina, where we won the audience award for Best Documentary Feature!
We then had a sold-out New York City premiere at DOCNYC, and the film has subsequently gone on to play at film festivals in dozens of cities all over the world: from Spain to The Netherlands, to Poland, Australia, Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis and more.
But now, with an offer for streaming distribution hanging in the balance, we've hit a funding hurdle - so we're reaching out to our amazing community for help getting this film over the finish line and out into the world!
JESSAMYN ANSARY is a writer, producer and filmmaker with 15+ years of experience creating content for networks and platforms like HBO Max, Hulu, National Geographic, Travel Channel, Oxygen, Food Network, and many others. Jessamyn got her start as an associate producer on acclaimed director Michael Apted’s documentary Married in America. She was part of the producing team on the Emmy-nominated healthcare documentary Escape Fire, and on multiple HBO feature docs and series, including Americans in Bed and Real Sex. Recent projects include writing true crime scripts for Oxygen channel’s popular series’ Snapped and Killer Couples; co-producing The Jewel Thief, a feature true crime documentary for Hulu; casting the leads on the HBO Max series Swiping America; producing a series of short branded documentaries for eBay; and writing for Time Stamped, the e-commerce wing of Time Magazine.
JOYCE MISHAAN is a filmmaker and producer from Brooklyn, NY. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, she has created short and long form content for major networks including HBO, Nat Geo, Discovery+, TLC, Food Network and branded documentary content for clients including Nike, eBay and more. She has created documentary shorts for Yahoo’s Makers Conference, and for former Vice President Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality. She was part of the producing team for the 2014 Emmy-nominated feature documentary Escape Fire: the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. In TV, she was Showrunner and Executive Producer of Food Network’s Ciao House, and Senior Producer for the hit show Chopped. She was also one of the Executive Producers on TLC’s famed 90 Day Fiancé franchise. Joyce is the Producer and Co-EP of Brooklynification, a comedy series about gentrification for BRIC TV/Amazon Prime, and she is currently producing a feature with director Keith Miller, in post-production. Lee Fields: Faithful Man is her directorial debut for a feature documentary, with Jessamyn Ansary. When not making films, Joyce is also a coach for filmmakers and other creative professionals, helping them to take the leap into creative work that truly ignites them.
Hailed by Rolling Stone for “his classic American soul sound,” LEE FIELDS is arguably the greatest pure soul singer alive today. In an age when the shelf life of an artist largely depends on posturing and trends, he has proven to be an unassailable force of nature. His prolific five-decades-plus career spans more than twenty albums and over forty singles, a supreme, still-evolving body of work which continues to garner attention via samples by such heavyweight artists as J. Cole, Travis Scott, Rick Ross, and A$AP Rocky as well as outside-the-box collaborations like the worldwide dance club hit, “Jealousy,” with French DJ/ producer Martin Solveig.
CHRISTOPHER POINDEXTER is the co-creator, writer, and producer of BRIC TV’s Brooklynification; a Digital series The New York Times described as a “ sharper than most...well-acted and well-written...understated satire.” After graduating Columbia Law School, Chris has been practicing as a transactional media Attorney in New York City. Chris has assisted many NYU students and other young filmmakers by investing, producing and providing legal advice to their projects. In 2011, he wrote and produced his first short film, a scripted comedic look at black life at Princeton entitled, Their Eyes Were Watching Gummy Bears. Chris is also a Board Member of the non-profit Reel Works, a one of a kind program in Brooklyn which gives underserved young filmmakers one-on-one mentoring with filmmaking professionals. In 2016, Chris was the Executive Producer of Reel Works’ first feature film, 72 Hours: A Brooklyn Love Story. Chris was selected by Brooklyn Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture”.
COURTNEY COLLINS is a two-time New York Emmy award-winning editor, DP, and story producer. After receiving her masters degree, Collins relocated from Ohio to New York and has since worked on commercials, documentaries, and broadcast television programs for NBC, PBS, Nat Geo, Fox, COZI TV, and related digital platforms. Most recently, Collins was credited as editor and producer of the feature length documentary for Lionsgate with nationwide theatrical release in over 900 theaters. Collins organizes creative meet-ups in her Jersey City studio, “NLK Studio,” and uses her talent to promote local artists and advocate for underserved communities. She teaches editing for the film program at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
MARC SMOLOWITZ is a multi-award-winning director, producer, executive producer, and consulting producer who has been significantly involved in 50+ successful independent films. The combined footprint of his works has touched 250+ film festivals & markets on 5 continents, yielding substantial worldwide sales to theatrical, television, and VOD outlets, notable box office receipts, and numerous awards and nominations. His credits include films that have screened at top-tier festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Venice, SXSW, Tribeca, Locarno, Chicago, Palm Springs, SFFILM, AFI DOCS, IDFA, DOC NYC, CPH: DOX, Thessaloniki, Tokyo, Melbourne, Viennale, Jerusalem, among others. In 2009, Marc founded 13th Gen, an S.F.-based company that works with a dynamic range of independent film partners globally to oversee the financing, production, post-production, marketing, sales, and distribution efforts of a vibrant portfolio of films and filmmakers. The company has successfully advanced Marc's career-long focus on powerful social issue filmmaking across all genres. In 2016, he received one of the prestigious Gotham Fellowships to attend the Cannes Film Festival's Producers Network marking him as one of the USA's most influential independent film producers. Learn more at http://13thgenfilm.com
The daughter of immigrants, BRITTANY DOUZIECH is a first-gen music supervisor from Los Angeles. She began her career at Fuel TV, putting together creative music ideas for docu-style content and assisting on shows featuring weekly musical guests from Bad Religion to the likes of Chromeo and Public Enemy. She became the in-house music supervisor for one of the largest independent television production companies, working across major network shows for almost a decade before venturing out on her own. Brittany currently freelances on documentaries and both scripted film and television. Her projects have been released on major outlets such as PBS, Netflix, HBO Max, Starz, Paramount+ and Hulu and screened at variety of festivals including Tribeca, AFI, Blackstar, Doc NYC, Doc N Roll and SXSW. She often works alongside two separate veteran music supervisors, Joe Rudge and Frankie Pine, where she has most recently contributed to several projects, including: “A League of Their Own” (Amazon), “From Scratch” (Netflix), Emmy nominated series “Daisy Jones & the Six” (Amazon) and Life & Beth (Hulu).
JERMAINE “MAINFRAME" FLETCHER is a composer and producer based out of New York and New Jersey. The son of musician parents, Jermaine grew up surrounded by jazz and funk. These influences are the foundation of Jermaine’s sounds, which are a fusion of electronic, soul, hip-hop and classical. Since graduating from Florida A&M University with a degree in broadcast journalism, Jermaine has also become an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, whose productions include projects with ESPN, Bloomberg, CBS and several feature films. Jermaine recently finished scoring the short doc The Panola Project, which screened at Sundance in 2022. The film first premiered for The New Yorker in August 2021. Other recent projects include Brooklynification, a comedy series produced by BRIC TV; TUF Gaming (ASUS), world-wide product release; and Scabal (Design & Fashion), commercial global product release.
REBEKAH NELSON is a filmmaker hailing from Queens, NY. She produced the indie feature Living with the Dead (Lion Hearted Films), which is available on Amazon Prime worldwide. She frequently collaborates with The Sparrow Film Project, writing & directing several short films for their festival. Such shorts include Eurydice And..., The Drop, Cytokine Cascade, A Christmas Carol: Stave V and Mister Warren's Neighborhood. She is the Co-founder of FreeBox Films, short film credits include Dakota (producer) and The Shoulder (director/producer). Nelson starred in the feature American Bomber, which was promoted by the NYC mayor's office as part of the MADE IN NY campaign. She received a B.A. in theatre arts from Marymount Manhattan College & majored in drama at the Professional Performing Arts School in NYC.
After a ten-year journey to tell this story, we could not be more thrilled to be able to share it with the world and preserve Lee's legacy for generations to come — but there’s just one last thing standing in the way: the final finishing funds. While it’s never easy to ask for help, we now have an offer for distribution hanging in the balance, so we are humbly seeking support from our community and from Lee’s fans in our final effort to get the film out into the world.
You're probably wondering: if the film is finished, then what costs remain? Here's a quick breakdown:
(Photo credit: CourTney Collins / Non Linear Knitting Studios)
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
E&0 Insurance
Costs $3,800
In order to distribute the film, it’s necessary to purchase errors and omissions insurance.
Licensing Fees
Costs $9,200
The film includes archival material, which helps us tell the full story from past to present. Licenses must be upgraded for distribution.
Legal
Costs $6,000
As we negotiate contracts and process paperwork for distribution, it’s essential to be able to access legal council.
Post Production Labor
Costs $6,000
We worked with an amazing post production team on this film, and their labor has allowed us to finish the audio mix and final finishing work
PR
Costs $5,000
Good PR is an important component of any film’s release; it will greatly enhance our ability to reach potential audiences.
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About This Team
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER – Jessamyn Ansary
JESSAMYN ANSARY is a writer, producer and filmmaker with 15+ years of experience creating content for networks and platforms like HBO Max, Hulu, National Geographic, Travel Channel, Oxygen, Food Network, and many others. Jessamyn got her start as an associate producer on acclaimed director Michael Apted’s documentary Married in America. She was part of the producing team on the Emmy-nominated healthcare documentary Escape Fire, and on multiple HBO feature docs and series, including Americans in Bed and Real Sex. Recent projects include writing true crime scripts for Oxygen channel’s popular series’ Snapped and Killer Couples; co-producing The Jewel Thief, a feature true crime documentary for Hulu; casting the leads on the HBO Max series Swiping America; producing a series of short branded documentaries for eBay; and writing for Time Stamped, the e-commerce wing of Time Magazine.
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / CINEMATOGRAPHER - Joyce Mishaan
JOYCE MISHAAN is a filmmaker and producer from Brooklyn, NY. With 15+ years in the industry, she has created short and long form content for major networks including HBO, Max, Nat Geo, Discovery+, TLC, Food Network and branded documentary content for clients including Nike, Lululemon, eBay and more. She created documentary shorts for Yahoo’s Makers Conference, and for former Vice President Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality. She was part of the producing team for the 2014 Emmy-nominated feature documentary Escape Fire: the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. In TV, she was Showrunner and Executive Producer of Food Network’s Ciao House, and Senior Producer for the hit show Chopped. She was also one of the Executive Producers on TLC’s famed 90 Day Fiancé franchise. Joyce is the Producer and Co-EP of Brooklynification, a comedy series about gentrification for BRIC TV/Amazon Prime. She is currently producing a feature with director Keith Miller. Lee Fields: Faithful Man is her directorial debut for a feature documentary, with Jessamyn Ansary. When not making films, Joyce is also a coach for filmmakers and other creative professionals, helping them to take the leap into creative work that truly ignites them.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – Christopher Poindexter
Christopher Poindexter is the co-creator, writer, and producer of BRIC TV’s Brooklynification; a Digital series The New York Times described as a “ sharper than most...well-acted and well-written...understated satire.” After graduating Columbia Law School, Chris has been practicing as a transactional media Attorney in New York City. Chris has assisted many NYU students and other young filmmakers by investing, producing and providing legal advice to their projects. In 2011, he wrote and produced his first short film, a scripted comedic look at black life at Princeton entitled, Their Eyes Were Watching Gummy Bears. Chris is also a Board Member of the non-profit Reel Works, a one of a kind program in Brooklyn which gives underserved young filmmakers one-on-one mentoring with filmmaking professionals. In 2016, Chris was the Executive Producer of Reel Works’ first feature film, 72 Hours: A Brooklyn Love Story. Chris was selected by Brooklyn Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture”.
MUSIC SUPERVISOR - Brittany Douziech
Being from a diverse family, Brittany was introduced to a wide variety of music at a young age by her parents and close family friends. She often found herself lost to time, spending hours sitting by the radio creating mixtapes and curating songs for friends and class projects. In college she studied journalism with an emphasis in world music history; the first at her university to do so. Post college, she got her start in music supervision at Fuel TV, pulling music and assisting on shows featuring a wide variety of weekly musical guests from Dillinger Escape Plan to the likes of Chromeo and Public Enemy. After Fuel, she interned with music supervisor Frankie Pine, where she worked on a variety of scripted projects including ABC’s Nashville and HBO’s Newsroom. Brittany currently works as an in-house Music Supervisor for one of the largest independent TV production companies, where she has worked on several major TV, cable and web shows. She continues to freelance on various doc/film/web/tv projects and also dabbles in booking shows.
*Member of the Guild of Music Supervisors / ARRAY Crew / BGDM (Brown Girls Doc Mafia)
COMPOSER - Jermaine Fletcher
Jermaine “Maineframe" Fletcher is a composer and producer based out of New York and New Jersey. The son of musician parents, Jermaine grew up surrounded by jazz and funk. These influences are the foundation of Jermaine’s sounds, which are a fusion of electronic, soul, hip-hop and classical. Since graduating from Florida A&M University with a degree in broadcast journalism, Jermaine has also become an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, whose productions include projects with ESPN, Bloomberg, CBS and several feature films. Jermaine recently finished scoring the short doc The Panola Project, which screened at Sundance 2022. The film first premiered for The New Yorker in August 2021. Other recent projects include Brooklynification, a comedy series produced by BRIC TV; TUF Gaming (ASUS), world-wide product release; and Scabal (Design & Fashion), commercial global product release.
LEAD EDITOR – CourTney Collins
CourTney Collins is a two-time New York Emmy award-winning editor, DP, and story producer. After receiving her masters degree, Collins relocated from Ohio to New York and has since worked on commercials, documentaries, and broadcast television programs for NBC, PBS, Nat Geo, Fox, COZI TV, and related digital platforms. Most recently, Collins was credited as editor and producer of the feature length documentary for Lionsgate with nationwide theatrical release in over 900 theaters. Collins organizes creative meet-ups in her Jersey City studio, “NLK Studio,” and uses her talent to promote local artists and advocate for underserved communities. She teaches editing for the film program at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
EDITOR – Amanda Katz
Amanda Katz received her MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College– City University of New York, and holds a BFA in Film & Television Production from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Her films have received grants from institutions such as the New York State Council On The Arts and The Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. She works professionally as a film editor, and has taught film production courses at Fordham University, Hunter College and Rutgers University. Her work has screened at film festivals, museums, galleries and community spaces including The San Francisco International Film Festival, The Ann Arbor Film Festival, DOCNYC, Antimatter [Media Art], Encuentros del Otro Cine Festival Internacional, Athens International Film and Video Festival, Artists' Television Access, The Haverhill Experimental Film Festival, UnionDocs, The Carrack Modern Art, FRACTO, The Sunview Luncheonette, The Astoria Historical Society, and Microscope Gallery. As a film editor, Amanda works primarily on projects that are documentary in nature. Her latest editorial credits include Crooked Lines (directed by Monica Berra, Yoruba Richen & Jacqueline Olive for Field of Vision / 2018), The Washing Society (directed by Lynne Sachs & Lizzie Olesker / 2018 / Premiered at BAMcinemaFest) and An Empty Threat (directed by Josh Lewis / 2018 / Premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam).
CO-PRODUCER - Linda Saffire
LINDA SAFFIRE has worked on numerous award-winning film and television productions. Among her feature documentary and film credits are A Conversation with Gregory Peck, which was invited as a special selection to the Cannes 2000 Film Festival; Wild Man Blues a feature-length film on Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band; Married In America, a multi-year documentary by acclaimed director Michael Apted; and Smash His Camera, a collaboration with Adam Schlesinger and Academy Award-winning director, Leon Gast, (When We Were Kings). Smash His Camera, a feature-length documentary about famed paparazzo, Ron Galella, won Best Director at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary by the 2011 Producers Guild Awards and the 2011 News & Television Emmys. Ms. Saffire has also worked in dramatic series television: for HBO, the pilot and the first season of Sex and The City; Disney Channel’s, The Speed of Life, CBS Television’s, Central Park West; Nickelodeon’s, The Adventures of Pete and Pete; and Jim Henson Productions’ CityKids. Ms. Saffire also creates films for The Emmys, The Oscars’ Red Carpet Pre-show, The Comedy Awards, Eddie Murphy: One Night Only and most recently ITVS’s Independent Lens.
CO-PRODUCER - Keith Miller
Keith Miller is a filmmaker, artist, curator, and professor based in Brooklyn. In 2015 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow. He has been awarded a Jerome Film and Video grant and a Rooftop Production grant. He is the co-creator and director of the comedy web series Brooklynification (with Christopher Poindexter), looking at gentrification in Brooklyn and commissioned by BRIC TV. Keith’s feature film Five Star premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival where it won Best Editing for a Narrative Feature. It had its international premiere at the Venice Biennale and went on to play numerous festivals including Thessaloníki, Cairo, Rio De Janeiro, Seattle, New Orleans and many more. It is distributed in North America by Xlrator Media and internationally by AMC/Sundance International. Keith’s first feature film, Welcome to Pine Hill, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance Film Festival 2012, the Grand Jury Prize at the Atlanta Film Festival, the FIPRESCI Grand Jury Prize for New American Cinema at the Seattle International Film Festival, a Special Jury Prize for Performance at the Sarasota Film Festival and an Honorable Mention at the Nashville Film Festival. In North America it is distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories and internationally by AMC/Sundance International. In 2022 This Much We Know, Directed by Lily Henderson, premiered at Camden International Film Festoval and DOCNYC, produced by Keith with Joey Carey. This Much We Know has received grants from Cinereach and the Jerome Foundation.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:
LOGAN GAGLIARDI is a rising producer with over 7 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Starting her career in publicity and event planning, Logan pivoted to development and set production with a focus in unscripted content for television & film. She has worked for a variety of networks and brands such as Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Showtime Networks, The International Emmy Awards and most recently independent TV production house, MY Entertainment.
With over 15 years in the television industry, JENNY GNIRKE is a seasoned producer renowned for her work on impactful documentary shows like MTV's "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom." She has played a key role in launching first-season docu-series, including TLC's "Extreme Sisters" and Roku's "Match Me in Miami." As the showrunner for the reboot of ID Channel's acclaimed series "Disappeared," she led teams in post and field, consistently delivering high-quality shows. Her extensive experience reflects a passion for authentic storytelling and a proven track record in shaping captivating narratives.
KHADIJAH FORTE is a talented reality television producer and casting director from Houston, Texas. With a career spanning since 2002, Khadijah has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. Khadijah's expertise lies in casting for reality television, where she has made a name for herself as a skilled talent producer and associate producer on shows like Married at First Sight, Ready To Love and Food Truck Face Off. Her keen eye for talent and ability to bring out the best in her cast members has earned her a loyal following among industry professionals. In addition to her work behind the scenes, Khadijah has also made a name for herself as an actor, appearing in several national commercials. She is represented by Boysen Talent in Texas and Linda Layman agency in Oklahoma. Khadijah is known for her dedication to her craft and her ability to bring out the best in everyone she works with. She is a skilled collaborator who values teamwork and communication, and is always looking for new and innovative ways to approach her work.
GINA HOUSEHOLDER is a documentary filmmaker and editor based in Southern California. She received a B.A. in film from CSULB in 2018, where she worked on several student films - including a CSU Media Arts Festival winner. She has since worked in a variety of genres including commercial, wedding, and nonfiction media.
PAULA SHAFFER is a screenwriter who currently resides in Durham, NC. She has worked in both production and casting on shows for an array of networks including ABC, Netflix, Hulu, HGTV, and the Hallmark Channel. Her television pilot, “Charlie Nobody,” and feature film “Chompers” were both selected projects of Stowe Story Labs. “Chompers” was also a semi-finalist in the 2022 Emerging Screenwriters contest,and placed on the Coverfly Red List. Paula is also a regular contributor to Book & Film Globe, an independent pop-culture and literary review site.
JESSE ZIEBART is a Seattle-based Producer with over ten years of experience in television and film. Jesse has contributed content to networks such as Bravo, A&E, Lifetime, National Geographic, PBS, HBO Max, Food Network, and others, and has expertise in areas of casting, development, story, and has also directed music videos and spent extensive time in the field. Jesse was a Producer for COVID POV (Swirl Studios), a documentary film which used video diaries submitted over the course of a year to tell the stories of individuals in lockdown during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other documentary work includes: 15 Minutes of Shame (HBO Max), a feature doc about the history of public shaming and executive produced by Monica Lewinsky; Aly Raisman: Darkness to Light (Lifetime) a documentary special about the journey of healing from the perspective of survivors of sex abuse in the USA gymnastics; Invisible Monsters: Serial Killers in America (A&E), a docuseries about serial killers of the 1970s; and The American Presidency. a docuseries executive produced by Bill Clinton (History). Jesse studied French at the Sorbonne, music at the American School of Modern Music, and drama at the Lee Strasberg Workshop.