Robert Sherwin shares with his students a lifelong passion in filmmaking and photography. His interests range from urban landscape photography to dramatic and documentary film production. Sherwin likes to write, edit, and even occasionally shoot, but frequently collaborates with other professionals on larger projects. Although he started his career behind a desk at a Madison Avenue advertising agency in New York City, he quickly embraced still and moving imagery.
As a line producer for a film/video production company, Sherwin learned the necessary skills to work with actors, cinematographers, editors, and clients. In the evenings, he ventured out to photograph desolate areas of Manhattan’s West Side. He eventually took on his own clients and produced/directed video productions for Exxon/Mobil, Theater Guild, and Radio Advertising Bureau.
After completing graduate film school at NYU, Sherwin moved to Los Angeles, raised $1.5 million, and made his first feature film starring Academy-award nominated Tess Harper (Breaking Bad, No Country for Old Men). Premiering at the London Film Festival, this romantic comedy went on to a successful theatrical release in New York, Los Angeles, and around the world. Before joining New York Tech, he served as an adjunct professor at NYU and Hunter College.
Sherwin received his Master of Fine Arts in film making from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. As an undergraduate, he attended Cornell University and University of Vermont, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business.
Recent Projects and Research
- 2016 Beautiful Days, Bloody Nights (Writer, Director, Camera, Editor)
This documentary is about the evolution of America’s richest community and how its earliest days were filled with deception, turmoil, and bloodshed. The story culminates with one of the worst massacres of native Americans by the earliest Dutch and English settlers. The film uses historical images, live re-enactments, period on-camera, and contemporary voiceover narrators to tell this medley of terrible tragedy and remarkable success. The Indians are fully represented as seen through the sympathetic eyes of Adriaen Van Der Donck, a Dutch lawyer and aspiring politician. - 2013 Senior2Seniore (Producer, Co-Director, Co-Editor)
An inter-generational pilot project using a Web-based interface to disseminate "pearls of wisdom" from older adults to high school seniors entering a transitional phase in their lives. This interdisciplinary project was produced with the help of New York Tech faculty members Michael Uttendorfer, Ed.D., and Tobi Abramson, Ph.D.
Publications & Presentations
- Floating Foundation of Photography (Group Show)
- Brooklyn Museum (Permanent Collection)
- Museum of the City of New York (Permanent Collection)
- London Film Festival (British Film Institute)
- Aspen and Rochester International Film Festival (Best of Fest)
Honors and Awards
- Paulette Goddard Screenwriting Award
- Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, University Drama Award
- National Focus Award (sponsored by Nissan and Steven Spielberg)
- Director’s Guild of America, NYU Haig Manoogian screenings (Los Angeles)
- CINE Golden Eagle, Finalist, Washington, D.C.
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Fellowship
Courses Taught at New York Tech
- Film Production I, II, and III
- Scriptwriting I and II
- Moving Targets
- Producing for Television and Film
- Field Production Basics
- Production Company “ProdCo”