Principal, Creative Director
Eli F. Bleich is President and CEO of mediagroup. A graduate of NYU’s Film School, in 1964, he began his career with CBS News in New York, working on such projects as “The Warren Commission Report,” with Walter Cronkite, and “In the Pay of the CIA” with Mike Wallace. He joined Charles Guggenheim Productions in 1968, where he participated in the production of numerous documentaries, including the Oscar winning film “Robert F. Kennedy Remembered.”
His theatrical film and television programming credits include the critically acclaimed feature documentary “Fillmore,” produced for 20th Century Fox, and the controversial “Let The Fires Burn,” produced for the National Park Service.
Other directorial credits include the 1980 Democratic National Committee Campaign Biography of President Jimmy Carter, entitled “This Man, This Office,” and “Savage,” a Movie of the Week developed for the ABC Television Network.
A lifelong documentary filmmaker, Bleich produced and directed mediagroup’s first independently produced and released theatrical documentary, “Fast Lane Summer,” and is now preparing another theatrical documentary called “Thin Ice,” which explores the role the Arctic plays in the overall climate change of our planet.
Bleich holds among his many awards the U.S. Cine Golden Eagle, a Gold Medal from the Atlanta Film Festival, and a Golden Mike Award from the National Association of Broadcasters. For his work as director of Fast Lane Summer, he received the NYIFF “Best Documentary Director” Award, as well as a Gold Aurora Award. He also acted as producer of “The Big Shave,” which received the L’Age d’Or Prize in Brussels.
Bleich has also held “The Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Chair” in Documentary Film at San Diego State College, and is a member of the Directors Guild of America.