Aviva Slesin is a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 film-maker.

Slesin was awarded the Academy Award 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

Directors Guild of America

Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...

 and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Slesin has been a MacDowell Fellow and has had a retrospective of her work shown at the Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

  She is a member of the faculty at NYU ’s Tisch School of the Arts

Tisch School of the Arts

Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....

. Slesin is also a painter.

Documentaries

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

The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir

The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir is a 1975 documentary film directed by Shirley MacLaine and Claudia Weill. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-External links:*...

, produced by Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...

 and nominated that year for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. Next, she edited Making Television Dance  about choreographer Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...

, followed in 1977 by The Rutles

The Rutles

The Rutles are a band that are known for their visual and aural pastiches and parodies of The Beatles. Originally created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes as a fictional band to be featured as part of various 1970s television programming, the group recorded, toured, and released two UK chart hits in...

, a Beatles satire directed by Monty Python’s Eric Idle

Eric Idle

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

.

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

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

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

In 1987, Slesin won an Academy Award 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

The ABC Afterschool Special is an American television anthology series that aired on ABC from 1972 to 1996, usually in the late afternoon on week days. Most of the episodes were dramatic presentations of situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were...

. 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

TBS

The acronym TBS may refer to:In broadcasting:*Tokyo Broadcasting System, a TV station in Tokyo, Japan*TBS Radio & Communications, the flagship radio station of the Japan Radio Network *TBS , a US cable television channel...

.

During 1995 to 1998, Slesin produced and directed a series of short segments for the Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O'Donnell

Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell is an American stand-up comedian, actress, author and television personality. She has also been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, LGBT rights activist, television producer and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family...

 show, Kids Talk, John Hockenberry's Edgewise

Edgewise

Edgewise was an hour-long television news magazine program that aired on MSNBC from 1996 to 1997. The show was hosted by John Hockenberry....

, HBO’s Real Sex

Real Sex

Real Sex is a 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."...

, and Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly is an American weekly television news-magazine program which airs on PBS-History and content:Premièring in 1997, it is the only television program devoted entirely to the news of religion and spirituality, along with major ethical issues...

.

In 2003, Slesin produced, directed, and narrated Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII

Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII

Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII is a 2002 documentary directed by Aviva Slesin. It deals with the complicated associations involving two groups of guardians and the children who are grateful to each pair.-Summary:...

, which was nominated for two Emmys and won a Christopher Award

Christopher Award

The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...

.

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
  Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII
  Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII is a 2002 documentary directed by Aviva Slesin. It deals with the complicated associations involving two groups of guardians and the children who are grateful to each pair.-Summary:...
  
  (2003)

Awards

• Academy Award (Oscar)
• Inspirational Film Award, Hamptons International Film Festival
  Hamptons International Film Festival
  Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to provide a forum for independent filmmakers from around the world to express their vision. The Festival is traditionally held for five days in mid-October in theatre venues from Montauk to Southampton and attracts roughly 15,000 visitors annually...
  
  
• Lilian Gish Award, Los Angeles Women in Film Festival
• Christopher Award
  Christopher Award
  The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...