Leslie–Ann Coles of LA Coles Fine Art Films runs a boutique production company and is very hands-on in the creation of original commercial productions. Coles is also the founder and executive director of the Female Eye Film Festival which celebrates its 23rd edition in 2025.

 

Coles is an award-winning screenwriter/producer/director/actor. She works with scripted and unscripted material. When working with scripted material, she understands actors’ artistic processes intuitively, having trained and worked as an actor. She gravitates to realism, and nuanced characters and enjoys stories with compelling, character-driven dialogue and action. In the documentary landscape, she excels at conducting and directing interviews. 

 

Coles wrote, produced, directed and stars in “The Curtain” which screens in festivals now. Her feature, “Soiled Dove,” a female-driven western is in development, supported by Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates. “Soiled Dove” is on Coverfly’s Red List having garnered numerous accolades and awards in international script competitions. Her multi-award-winning feature documentary “Melody Makers” – and companion interactive digital media (IDM) –released in 2019 with the support of Telefilm Canada.

​

Coles is a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada, the Writers Guild of Canada and ACTRA. She is an alumna of the Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program, a recipient of three CTV Banff Fellowships for original series. 

​

As the founder and executive director of the Female Eye Film Festival (est.2001) she evaluates and selects independent films and screenplays from more than 2,500 international entries every year. Intimately familiar with the local and international filmmaking community, her strength lies in creatively strategizing projects and evaluating their market potential during the development process by understanding each film’s milieu, be it social, cultural, or art-focused. 

​

Coles dedicated 18 years to modern dance as a choreographer/performer before transitioning from the stage to the screen with her debut film, “In the Refrigerator aka Dancing for Doll” which she wrote, directed and starred in. It screened at 35 international film festivals and garnered numerous awards attracting the attention of the 73rd Academy Awards for Oscar consideration. She has been making films ever since!