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 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 she is a member of the faculty at nyu’s tisch school of the arts. slesin is also a painter.