about me

My name is Michael Mittelstaedt, I am a filmmaker and educator.  For nearly 15 years I've had the pleasure of serving as the Director of the Motion Picture Arts Division at Interlochen Center for the Arts, a school for ambitious young artists, learning all aspects of visual storytelling. Now young professionals, my early alumni work for studios at Netflix, Amazon, Dreamworks, and Ken Burns’ Florentine Films, and Skywalker Sound. Previous to Interlochen, I was producer/director for Broadview Media, Chicago, leading the documentary series "America in the 20th Century,"  During that time I acted as lead producer for the non-profit For Global Progress, producing their annual fundraiser event in conjunction with UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine/AIDS Institute.  

In 2015 I was appointed by the governor of Michigan to the Michigan Film Commission Advisory Council.  

I am deeply invested in topics of community, identity and collaboration as they relate to creative and personal development and selected as a presenter to share methods I use in my curriculum at SXSWEDU 2019. 

In 2020, I launched the Cinema Collective, a powerful network of alumni artists and arts faculty who will reunite yearly to produce professional films; principal photography of the Collective’s first begins this Spring.