Elise Pearlstein

Executive Vice President

Elise Pearlstein is an Oscar® nominated, Emmy-winning filmmaker with over two decades of experience creating critically acclaimed, commercially successful non-fiction stories. As Executive Vice President at This Machine Filmworks, Pearlstein provides creative oversight over the company’s robust slate of nonfiction films and television series. 

Before joining This Machine, Pearlstein was SVP, Documentary, at Participant Media where she shepherded the company’s slate of award-winning documentaries from development through release, including the 2021 Oscar®-nominated Collective, the 2020 Oscar®-winner American Factory, the first release for Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, and the 2014 Oscar®-winner Citizen Four. Prior to Participant, Pearlstein was an independent documentary producer, as well as producing and writing prime-time documentaries for NBC and ABC News. 

Pearlstein’s films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Tribeca, SXSW and beyond, and have been released theatrically, on premium broadcasters and streamers. Pearlstein is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She serves on the Board of Food Access L.A., an organization ensuring the availability of fresh food for all communities in Los Angeles, and she previously served on the Board of the International Documentary Association.