Leslie D. Bland
Position
Contact
Credentials
BFA University of Alberta; MFA Directing University of Victoria, ARCT University of Toronto
Winter 2026-27 Courses:
Brief Biography
Leslie has produced and directed over 150 professional projects in film, television, and live theatre. His Film and TV projects have been featured on CraveTV, CBC, Discovery Networks, Amazon, Super Channel, Telus, Knowledge Network, TVO, FNX, Télé Quebec, Hollywood Suite, Maori TV, NITV Australia, TV 5 Monde, Bytedance China, APTN, and many other streamers and broadcasters.
Leslie’s recent credits include the award-winning comedy heist feature The Great Salish Heist featuring Graham Greene and Tricia Helfer, the first Indigenous heist film ever produced, which enjoyed a successful Cineplex release, and was nominated for three Leo Awards. It will be streaming on CBC Gem beginning in 2027. He also produced the coming-of-age romcom feature Sweet Summer Pow Wow now streaming on CraveTV, which was released theatrically at Cineplex, Landmark, and Independent Cinemas across Canada. SSPW won Outstanding Lead Performance at LA’s Red Nation International Film Festival, the Audience Favourite Award at the Victoria Film Festival, and two Leo Awards. It was nominated for nine Leos, and for a Canadian Screen Award for Graham Greene in one of his last screen appearances. His latest feature documentary Tzinquaw Opera will begin its film festival run the fall of 2026.
His credits as producer and director also include the award-winning feature length documentary Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood which featured Howie Mandel, Neve Campbell, David Foster, and Alex Trebek; the Telus/ FNX sitcom series Ollie and Emma; documentary Dust 'n Bones for FNX/ Telus/ APTN; the documentary series The Wine Guys: Grape Escapes, filmed in Italy and Spain; and two feature docs Tzouhalem and A Cedar Is Life for Super Channel and CHEK.
Prior to his work in Film/TV, Leslie was an award-winning Artistic Director of two professional theatre companies in Canada. He is an alumnus of the Trans Atlantic Partners program in international co-production.
Areas of Research & Creative Activity
Leslie is the President of Less Bland Productions, a Victoria-based Film and TV production company. Less Bland Productions is a company dedicated to creating high quality TV series and feature films for distribution in Canada and beyond. A company with original and eclectic tastes, producing scripted features and series, feature docs, and doc series, LBP facilitates Indigenous centered content through its affiliated company First Nations controlled Orca Cove Media and supports projects which focus on racialized communities through Bland of Brothers Productions.