Michael Lee came to Melbourne in 1968 to study at Swinburne College, then the only film-making school in Australia. He became involved in the blossoming avant-garde film scene in Melbourne.

He was a member of the founding board of the Melbourne filmmakers Co-operative and later served on the board of the Modern Image Makers Association.

He has produced over a dozen 16mm films. Apart from some shorter films concerned with formal structure and the parameters of the motion picture medium, my main thematic concern has been the search for meaning. My big efforts were The Mystical Rose (1976, 65 mins), which expresses the confused dissolute narcissism of my youth, Turnaround (1983, 60 mins), which illustrates the search for a centre or foundation, and A Contemplation of the Cross (1989, 27 mins), which communicates the acceptance of Christian faith