Eric Mendelsohn's feature film debut, Judy Berlin, starring The Sopranos' Edie Falco, as well as Madeline Kahn, was an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard), won Best Director at Sundance, Best Independent Film at the Hamptons Film Festival and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards. His short film, Through An Open Window, starring Anne Meara and Cynthia Nixon, premiered at The Sundance Film Festival, enjoyed festival screenings internationally, was an Official Selection of The Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard) and garnered him a guest spot on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. His feature film, 3 Backyards, starring Edie Falco, Danai Gurira (Black Panther), and Elias Koreas (The Thin Red Line) premiered in competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it garnered the Best Director award making Eric the only person in the festival's history to have received the award twice. In 2017, Eric co-wrote and was executive producer of the film, Love After Love, starring Andie MacDowell and Chris O'Dowd.
Eric's screenplays have been developed at the Sundance Institute's labs and he is a producer on the films of Rebecca Dreyfus, and Juan Carlos Vallejo. In the field of film design, Eric worked for writer/director Woody Allen for over 8 years on such films as Crimes and Misdemeanors, Husbands and Wives, Bullets Over Broadway, Alice and Everyone Says I Love You. Mendelsohn is a mentor for the Sundance Institute's writer's lab. Working with Professor Bette Gordon, he revised director Edward Dmytryk's book, On Screen Directing. He is a three-time finalist and the 2012 winner of Columbia University's Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Most recently, Eric was contracted by The Walt Disney Studio to create a lecture series regarding visual storytelling for their renowned animation department
(c) Matthew Jaeger Mendelsohn
Professor of Professional Practice, Film