Steven Silver is a film writer, director and producer. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. He started his film career in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and later on in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 writing and co-producing a feature-length 1997 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) documentary Gerrie & Louise that earned him an International Emmy award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

. In addition to documentaries for the CBC, he also directed documentaries for PBS, the History Channel and Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...

, as well as Diameter of the Bomb and the critically acclaimed The Last Just Man, for which he won a big number of international awards. He cooperated with Barna-Alper Productions with Box Car Rebellion, Doctor's Strike, The Last Just Man; The Anglo Boer War and The Dark Years.

His most recent film for which he also wrote the screenplay is a Canadian–South African long feature film entitled The Bang-Bang Club based on the book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War co-written by Greg Marinovich

Greg Marinovich

Greg Sebastian Marinovich is an award-winning South African photojournalist, film maker, photo editor, and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He co-authored the book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War, which details South Africa's transition to democracy. In the 1990s, Marinovich worked as...

 and João Silva who were part of the group of four photographers in South Africa known as Bang-Bang Club

Bang-Bang Club

The Bang Bang Club was a name primarily associated with four photographers active within the townships of South Africa during the Apartheid period, particularly between 1990 and 1994, from when Nelson Mandela was released from jail to the 1994 elections...

, the other two members being Kevin Carter and Ken Oosterbroek. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

 (TIFF).

Director

• 2002: Stories from the War Zone (TV documentary)
• 2002: Soul of India (TV documentary) - Part of Wide Angle series
• 2002: The Last Just Man (documentary)
• 2003: The Great Atlantic Air Race (TV documentary)
• 2005: Diameter of the Bomb (documentary)
• 2005: H5N1: Killer Flu - Part of Wide Angle series
• 2007: The Dark Years (TV mini-series)
• 2010: The Bang-Bang Club - First directed long feature film

Writer

• 1997: Gerrie & Louise (documentary)
• 2003: The Great Atlantic Air Race (TV documentary)
• 2010: The Bang-Bang Club (screenplay / writer)

Producer

• 1997: Gerrie & Louise (documentary) (co-producer)
• 2002: Soul of India (TV documentary) - Part of Wide Angle series
• 2005: H5N1: Killer Flu - Part of Wide Angle series
• 2007: Shake Hands with the Devil (executive producer)
• 2007: Who Do You Think You Are? (TV series) (executive producer)
• 2007: Party Mamas (TV series) (executive producer - 6 episodes: "Emily", "Rosalie", "Angel", "Suzanne" and "Bridget"
• 2008: Céline (TV movie) (executive producer)
• 2009: Bio-Dad (TV documentary) (executive producer)
• 2009: Ted Rogers: A Life in Broadcasting (TV movie) (executive producer)
• 2009: Almost Audrey (TV movie) (executive producer)
• 2010: Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie (documentary) (executive producer)
• 2010: The Bang-Bang Club (executive producer)
• 2010: Flip, Flop, and Fly, 40 Years of the Downchild Blues Band (documentary) (executive producer)
• 2010: Pickton (TV documentary) (executive producer) (post-production)

Awards and Nominations

For Gerrie & Louise

• 1998: Won Gemini Award for "Best Writing in a Documentary Program or Series" (shared with Barry Stevens)
• 1998: Won Writers Guild of Canada Award (Shared with Barry Stevens)

For The Last Just Men

• 2002: Won "Best Documentary Film/Video" at Hamptons International Film Festival
• 2002: Won "Humanitarian Cinema Award" at Newport International Film Festival Award
• 2003: Won both "Audience Award" and "Special Jury Award" at the Prague One World Film Festival

Others

• 2006: Won "Silver Screen Award: Documentaries" U.S. International Film and Video Festival for "Wide Angle" "H5N1: Killer Flu" (Shared with Micah Fink)
• 2008: Nominated for Gemini Award for "Best Direction in a Documentary Series" and for "Best Documentary Series" for The Dark Years
• 2009: Nominated for Gemini Award for "Best TV movie" for Céline (shared with Laszlo Barna)

External links