Shelly Silver is a multi-award-winning American filmmaker and media artist. Born in 1962 in New York City, Silver has been working in the film industry for more than three decades. She has directed a number of acclaimed features, shorts, and documentaries, and her films have screened in prestigious festivals around the world.
Silver began her career as a film editor, working on documentaries and Hollywood features in the 1980s. After years of experience in editing, she decided to pursue her own projects and wrote and directed her first feature film, “The Slow Business of Going” in 2002. The film was released to critical acclaim and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2006, Silver released her second feature film, “Passing Strange,” a semi-autobiographical musical about a young African-American artist’s journey to Europe. The film won the Camera d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
In 2009, Silver released her third feature film, “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.” The film follows a young boy’s struggle to survive in a world of poverty and neglect. The film was an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival.
In addition to her feature films, Silver has also directed a number of short films, including “The Little Match Girl” (2015) and “We the Animals” (2018). She has also directed several documentaries, such as “The Tribes of Palos Verdes” (2017) and “The Seagull” (2019).
Silver has received numerous awards and nominations for her work, including the Camera d’Or Award at Cannes, the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and the Visionary Award at the Tribeca Film Festival. Her films have been praised for their realism and emotional impact, and she is considered one of the most important American filmmakers of her generation.
