Gary Leva
Directing
Filmmaker and film historian Gary Leva has distinguished himself as the creative force behind scores of documentaries, broadcast programs and Special Features, many of them focused on the cinematic arts. His feature documentary, Fog City Mavericks, which highlights 100 years in the history of San Francisco's vibrant filmmaking community, had its world premiere at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival prior to its continuing life on cable television and disc. Leva's documentaries have made a lasting contribution to the history of film. His award- winning A Legacy of Filmmakers premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and received a New York Film Society screening at Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum. This documentary illuminates the creation of Francis Ford Coppola's landmark film company American Zoetrope, set against the changing landscape of American cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The film is now a part of the curricula at several top universities. Leva's celebrated documentaries on the cinema of George Lucas span the entire range of Lucas' career, from his earliest student films to his first feature, THX 1138, to the Star Wars series and beyond. His collections of documentaries on filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Clint Eastwood and Stanley Kubrick are often regarded as the top anthology on each of these master's works. Having earned a distinguished reputation as a leader in his field, Leva continues to work with the top filmmakers of our time, including Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Robert Redford, Oliver Stone and many others. Beyond the world of cinema, Leva has produced documentaries on subjects as varied as the struggle for investigative journalists to stay relevant in the Internet age and the ways in which the achievements of Alexander the Great are reflected in our modern lives. Other projects include the award-winning narrative feature film, Plan B, starring Jon Cryer, the mockumentary R2-D2: Beneath the Dome, broadcast nationally on Fox, and 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year, broadcast nationally on TCM. Leva is an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Known for
Directing71
Joe Rochefort - Breaking The Japanese Code
2020
Director
movieMonsters are Real
2019
Director
movieCreating Ghidorah
2019
Director
movieMaking Mothra
2019
Director
movieOcean's Team 3.0
2018
Director
movieTurning Like Clockwork
2011
Director
movieAlma: The Master's Muse
2008
Director
movieSaul Bass: Title Champ
2008
Director
movieFog City Mavericks
2007
Director
Plan B
1997
Director
Production48
tvWB 100th Behind the Shield
2023
Executive Producer
movieTurning Like Clockwork
2011
Producer
movieFog City Mavericks
2007
Producer
movieFilm Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
2006
Executive Producer
Editing19
Writing14
Plan B
1997
Writer
Camera1
movieCabaret: The Musical That Changed Musicals
2013
Director of Photography