Steven Silver (film director)

Not to be confused with American science fiction editor and published Steven H Silver or with American cinematographer Steven V Silver

Silver at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of The Bang Bang Club

Steven Silver is a media entrepreneur, producer, and director. Together with media industry veteran Peter Sussman, Steven co-Founded and is the CEO of Kew Media Group Inc., a leading publicly-listed content company that produces and distributes multi-genre content worldwide. Companies included in the KEW family are the production companies: Architect Films, Bristow Global Media, Campfire Film & Television, Collins Avenue Productions, Frantic Films, Jigsaw Productions, Media Headquarters, Our House Media, Sienna Films and Spirit Digital Media; and the distribution companies: Content Media Corporation (now re-branded KEW MEDIA) and TCB Media Rights.^[1]

With Neil Tabatznik, Steven is also Partner and Co-Founder of Toronto-based Blue Ice Group Capital. In 2005, the duo bought into Barna Alper productions, at which Steven served as President from 2005 to 2009, when it was sold to eOne Entertainment Inc. After the sale, Steven spent a year as head of eOne’s factual entertainment division.^[2]

In 2010, the Blue Ice Group partnered with Echo Lake Entertainment to form the Blue Lake Media Fund. The fund provides financing for mid- to large-budget independent films and television series. In 2011, the Blue Ice Group acquired the South African production company Out of Africa, and with the owner Lance Samuels established Blue Ice Pictures. Blue Ice Group is also responsible for a number of philanthropic initiatives including the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary fund, which provides financial support to African documentary filmmakers for development and production.^[3]

Prior to his executive work, Steven was a filmmaker. He started his career in [South Africa] and later in Canada writing and co-producing a feature-length 1997 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) documentary Gerrie & Louise that earned him an International Emmy award. In addition to documentaries for the CBC, he also directed documentaries for PBS, History Channel and Discovery Channel, as well as Diameter of the Bomb and the critically acclaimed The Last Just Man for which he won a 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^[4] based on the book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War co-written by Greg Marinovich and João Silva who were part of the group of four photographers in South Africa known as Bang-Bang Club, the other two members being Kevin Carter and Ken Oosterbroek. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).^[5]

More recently, he has executive produced a number of films including Truth, Indian Point, and Midnight’s Children.

Filmography

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)

References

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/kew-media-group-inc-files-preliminary-prospectus-for-initial-public-offering-542023481.html http://blueicepics.com/blue-ice-group.php

External links

• Steven Silver on IMDb