Aviva Slesin is a documentary film-maker. Slesin was awarded the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Feature Documentary for her film The Ten Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table in 1987. She is member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

and

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

. Slesin has been a MacDowell Fellow and has had a retrospective of her work shown at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

She is a member of the faculty at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

’s

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

. Slesin is also a painter.

Career

Documentaries

Slesin's career was launched in 1975 as a freelance film editor with The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir, produced by

Shirley MacLaine Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24, 1934) is an American actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades over her seven-dec ...

and nominated that year for an

for Best Feature Documentary. Next, she edited Making Television Dance about choreographer

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

, followed in 1977 by

The Rutles The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series ''Rutland We ...

, a Beatles satire directed by Monty Python’s

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

. In 1980, Slesin made the transition to independent Producer/Director with nine comedy shorts for the original

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

. In 1986, she directed and edited Directed by William Wyler, a biography of the late Hollywood director. In 1987, Slesin won an

for Best Feature Documentary for her film The Ten Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table. Then, 1990 marked a shift to dramatic films when Slesin directed and executive produced Stood Up! an

ABC Afterschool Special ''ABC Afterschool Special'' is an American television anthology series that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from October 4, 1972, to January 23, 1997, usually in the late afternoon on weekdays. Most episodes were dramatically presen ...

. Then Slesin produced and directed Voices in Celebration, a documentary for the National Gallery’s fiftieth anniversary. And in 1993 and 1994, she produced and directed the documentary, Hot on the Trail: Sex, Love and Romance in the Old West for TBS. During 1995 to 1998, Slesin produced and directed a series of short segments for

The Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on May 22, 2002. This talk sh ...

, Kids Talk, John Hockenberry's Edgewise,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

’s

Real Sex ''Real Sex'' is a documentary television series broadcast on and a production of HBO. As its name implies, ''Real Sex'' is a sexually explicit "magazine" which "explores sex '90s style." ''Real Sex'' explores human sexuality. Gary R. Edgerton a ...

, and

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly ''Religion & Ethics Newsweekly'' was an American weekly television news-magazine program which aired on PBS. History and content Premiering in 1997, ''Religion & Ethics Newsweekly'' was devoted to news of religion and spirituality, along with ...

. In 2003, Slesin produced, directed, and narrated Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII, which was nominated for two Emmys and won a

Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organization ...

.
, "The Christophers - Archives"

Films

*''Directed by William Wyler'' (1986) *'' The Ten Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table'' (1987) *''Stood Up'' (1990) *''Voices in Celebration'' (1980) *''Hot on The Trial: Sex, Love and Romance in the Old West'' (1993) *'' Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII'' (2003)

Awards

( Academy Award, Oscar) * Inspirational Film Award,

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October a ...

* Lilian Gish Award, Los Angeles Women in Film Festival *

References

External links