Lesli Klainberg

Lesli Klainberg is the Executive Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and she is also an award-winning producer and director whose documentaries have screened at film festivals such as Berlin, Sundance, Outfest and Frameline, and have been broadcast on networks including Cinemax, AMC, A&E, The Independent Film Channel (IFC), WE and PBS.

Prior to her current role as Executive Director, Klainberg served as FSLC’s Managing Director and the producer of the New York Film Festival. From 2008 through 2011, she served as Executive Director of NewFest, the NYC LGBT Film Festival. In 2012, Klainberg served as line producer on the Participant Media feature documentary, Finding North (A Place at The Table), which made its debut at Sundance. Klainberg also line produced Beware of Mr. Baker, which won the Audience Award for documentary at the SXSW Film Festival. From 2009 through 2011, Klainberg was one of two Lab Leaders of the prestigious IFP Documentary Film Lab held in NYC. In 2009, she served as a Consulting Producer for the Sundance Documentary Film Program and produced the IFP Filmmaker Forum during Independent Film Week. Klainberg also produced the acclaimed independent film, Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer’s End, which won the audience awards for documentary at Sundance, Frameline, and Outfest. Monette was also on the “short list” for the Academy Award in 1997 and was nominated for the IDA Award for Best Documentary. Other productions include the documentary mini-series, Indie Sex (2001 and 2007); Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006); In The Company of Women (2004); Beauty in a Jar (2003); Directed by Alan Smithee (2002); and Miss America (2001). Klainberg is a past Board member of GLAAD, Outfest and NewFest and has appeared on many juries and panels at film festivals around the country.

One of Klainberg's passions has been training and nurturing up-and-coming documentary filmmakers. She was a Lab Leader of the prestigious IFP Documentary Film Lab from 2009 through 2011. In 2009, she served as a Consulting Producer for the Sundance Documentary Film Program and has produced the IFP Filmmaker Forum and Independent Film Week. At Film at Lincoln Center, she has helped to nurture the organization’s Critics, Artist, and Industry Academies, which create opportunities for women and people of color to engage with their peers and grow into their careers as critics, filmmakers, and members of the industry.