About
Craig Leeson
Craig Leeson is a passionate oceans and mountain explorer, surfer, diver, aviator and an award-winning filmmaker, television presenter, news correspondent, and entrepreneur. He is the director, explorer/narrator, and writer of the multi-award-winning documentary feature film “A Plastic Ocean” (released 2017) and the producer/director/writer of The Last Glaciers (due for release on IMAX 2022). “A Plastic Ocean” was ranked the number one documentary on iTunes in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada shortly after its release. He is the 2022 TAS Australian Of The Year award recipient.
Craig is the CEO of Leeson Media International, Leeson Global Media and Ocean Vista Films and founder of the I Shot Hong Kong Film Festival. He is the Sustainability Partner to BNP Paribas, an advisor to The Klosters Forum, and was Cathay Pacific’s first Change-maker Award recipient. He has advised government’s around the world on environment issues and was instrumental in helping frame and introduce legislation banning single use plastics to the Colombian and Mexican congresses. He has also advised and worked with the Asian Development Bank on oceans and single-use plastics-related issues and helped ADB’s president launch a US$5billion global healthy oceans initiative in Fiji. He has worked with the world’s major broadcasters as a producer and foreign correspondent, including BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, PBS, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Bio Channel, Universal, Al Jazeera and the Seven Network. He began his career as a newspaper journalist before moving to radio and television as a news correspondent and anchor for ABC TV Australia and later for ATV, RTHK and Star News (Hong Kong).
His documentary filmmaking career began in 1999 and since then he has won an Asia TV Award for “Rebel Impasse”, on the Maoist rebels of Nepal (ATV); “Marco Polo: The China Mystery Revealed”, (National Geographic Channel); and a New York Festivals medal for Best International Affairs Documentary on “The fall of President Suharto”. He has won 17 awards for A Plastic Ocean, which has been translated to more than 25 languages and was released on Netflix by Leonardo di Caprio. The film was simultaneously screened on Amazon and iTunes. A Plastic Ocean has been publicly screened in cinemas and at public events in over 70 countries on 6 continents. There have been over 2000 screenings globally hosted by government agencies, non-profits, schools, universities, individuals, multilateral institutions, corporations, aquariums and others, including the Smithsonian Institute, the Australian and UK Parliaments and the Mexican senate. The film was only the second chosen to be screened in the US Senate (An Inconvenient Truth the first) and was selected by the Senate as one of 50 showcase films to be screened in 55 US embassies around the world. A shorter 22-minute version of the film was premiered at the UN General Assembly, in conjunction with the Permanent Mission of Colombia, in 2018 in New York City, to more than 500 people. The film counts among its patrons UNESCO. His new feature film, The Last Glaciers, will be screened globally by IMAX and is slated for release in 2021.
Craig has produced and directed NGC’s top Asia television programmes and projects including The Making Of A Gala (first insider look at the workings of the Peninsula hotel), GeoWatch Asia, the Top 30 Countdown for NGC’s 10th anniversary special, and Earth Day promos shot in multiple countries. He produced and directed Asia’s first extreme sports television series – the Action Asia Challenge – and screened it on two networks simultaneously, NGCI and ESPN. He is the first film director to stage a fashion show at the UN headquarters in Geneva. He worked as media strategist and executive liaison on Asia’s biggest joint-venture business deal between Telstra Australia and PCCW, reporting directly to both boards. He is committed to charity work and was one of the founders of the A Plastic Oceans Foundation, based in Hong Kong. He has also produced successful fundraising films for Room To Read, Operation Smile, The Sovereign Art Foundation and FilmAid.
Craig is a renowned public speaker, moderator and emcee and has been the keynote at major corporate, conference and film festival events globally, including the Royal Geographic Society, Tedx, Forbes, Fortune Magazine, International Congress on Conservation Biology, FilmAid Asia, EarthX, The Klosters Forum, BNP Paribas Sustainability Future Forum, Academia Film Olomouc, Ocean Geograhic, Wonderfruit and many more. He has moderated or been the keynote speaker for clients such as BNP Paribas, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, European Shipping Owners, Cathay Pacific, to name a few.
He is a qualified bronze medal certified surf lifesaver having represented his home state Tasmania at the Australian titles, and holds medical, CPR and surf rescue crew certification as well as a surf rescue boat license. He is also a qualified advanced SCUBA diver and holds an FAA-rated private pilot’s license and a UK paragliding pilot’s certificate. Craig plays guitar in a published rock band. He is the fourth generation media entrepreneur in his family.
Filmmaker
In early 2002 Craig joined the National Geographic Channel and produced its first in-house series for Asia, called Geowatch Asia. After serving in various executive roles in the broadcast industry, Craig founded his own production company, Ocean Vista Films Ltd, and produced some of Asia’s most iconic documentaries, including Marco Polo: The China Mystery Revealed (NGC), which was voted the 13th best documentary of all time on National Geographic Channel Asia. He then founded Leeson Media International, where he has produced and directed hundreds of tv commercials, corporate films and documentaries.
The Last Glaciers
Embark on a global IMAX adventure and push the limits of extreme sports to investigate the causes and effects of climate change.
From Antarctica to the Himalaya, the Alps, and the Andes, IMAX immerses you in an extraordinary journey to the top of Earth’s glaciers to show how rapidly they are disappearing. The 40-minute documentary captures the fragility of our natural world and brings forward a call to action from the next generation determined to reverse the climate crisis for their own future. Featuring original music composed by Grammy®-nominated Above & Beyond. Experience IMAX presents The Last Glaciers in select IMAX theatres listed below and learn more at www.thelastglaciers.com.
A Plastic Ocean
His current triumph is his feature-length directorial debut on the award-winning documentary A Plastic Ocean. This powerful film has been screening to sold-out audiences around the world, received rave reviews and 14 awards from film festivals big and small. It’s no wonder that iconic naturalist Sir David Attenborough has called it “The most important film of our time.”
Craig currently has three projects in production and pre-production. Stay tuned for more details!
A Plastic Ocean Continues to Take Honors Around the Globe
Adventurer
There is no line between work and play here. Craig is a free spirit who maximises every opportunity to engage in the natural world and to learn new skills. His adventuresome spirit has taken him to the world’s tallest mountains and deepest oceans and has allowed him to play witness to many of the biggest stories via his work as an international broadcast journalist and as a filmmaker. He’s seen the good, the bad and the ugly that humankind presents. This has given him a deep appreciation for the freedom he enjoys and to pursue roles as:
Surfer
Qualified Surf Lifesaver
Diver
Paddleboarder
Skier and mountaineer-in-training
Pilot
Rock Climber
Rock Star!
Yes, we did say rock star! Be sure to check out the gallery of images to the right as well as the trailer to the documentary film that tells the tale of Craig’s band, Uranus. Oh, and the band is available for bookings globally.
JOURNALIST
Craig is the fourth generation in his family to work in the media business. He began his career in newspapers before moving to radio and television. He earned multiple journalism and presenting awards while corresponding with ABC Television in Australia before moving to Hong Kong to present and report on the Handover and other Asian affairs for global and regional broadcasters such as Asia Television, CNN, Al Jazeera and Seven Network.
In the late 90s he covered the fall of Suharto and Indonesia’s independent elections as well as the impending East Timor War. He has a New York Festival Award for Best International Documentary and an Asian TV award for a documentary on the Maoist rebels of Nepal and was one of the first television presenters to investigate the economic sanctions imposed on Burma and to interview democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Today, Craig continues to bring clarity to world events through his ongoing reporting for Aljazeera English and Seven News Network.
Advocate
Craig is a firm believer in giving back and supporting initiatives that make our world a better place to exist. Environmental, media and youth-related causes are near and dear to his heart. He is particularly interested in organizations that work to preserve and protect our ocean environments through awareness, education and activation.
Craig is currently involved with the Plastic Oceans Foundation and has also supported Operation Smile (see video he made for the organization below), Room to Read and FilmAid Asia.
