Russell Merritt teaches in the Film and Media Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught and lectured internationally on Disney, animation, silent film, and art house cinema. Together with J. B. Kaufman, he cowrote the award-winning Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney and Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series. Merritt was senior advisor on D. W. Griffith: Father of Film, a three-part series produced for American Masters, which was nominated for an Emmy Award, and has also produced The Great Nickelodeon Show.