Steven Silver is a South African / Canadian media entrepreneur, producer, and director. Together with media industry veteran Peter Sussman, Silver co-founded and was the CEO of Kew Media Group Inc., a publicly listed content company that produced and distributed multi-genre content worldwide.
Silver was born and raised in South Africa. He earned his LL.B from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. [1] As a student, Silver was an anti-Apartheid activist during the 1990s. [2] [3]
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, and Discovery Channel. Silver's documentaries Diameter of the Bomb and the critically acclaimed The Last Just Man won a number of international awards. He collaborated with Barna-Alper Productions to produce Box Car Rebellion, Doctor's Strike, The Last Just Man, The Anglo Boer War, and The Dark Years.
With Neil Tabatznik, Silver is also partner and co-founder of Toronto-based Blue Ice Group Capital. In 2005, the duo bought into Barna Alper productions, at which Silver served as president from 2005 to 2009, when it was sold to Entertainment One. After the sale, Silver spent a year as head of eOne's factual entertainment division. [4]
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. [5]
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 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. [6] [7]
More recently, he has executive produced a number of films including Truth, Indian Point, and Midnight's Children.
Amid mounting debt and a pending court case, Kew Media Group dissolved in February 2020. FTI Consulting, a Toronto-based business management firm, took control of the company's assets and the board of directors resigned, including Silver. [8] [9]
Charles Burnett is an American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer. His most popular films include Killer of Sheep (1978), My Brother's Wedding (1983), To Sleep with Anger (1990), The Glass Shield (1994), and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007). He has been involved in other types of motion pictures including shorts, documentaries, and a TV series.
Mark Achbar is a Canadian filmmaker, best known for The Corporation (2003), Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1994), and as an Executive Producer on over a dozen feature documentaries.
Robin Spry was a Canadian film director, producer and writer. He was perhaps best known for his documentary films Action: The October Crisis of 1970 and Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis about Quebec's October Crisis. His 1970 film Prologue won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
Simcha Jacobovici is a Canadian-Israeli journalist, documentary filmmaker and pseudoarcheologist.
Sturla Gunnarsson is an Icelandic-Canadian film and television director and producer.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 21st Gemini Awards were held on November 4, 2006, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was co-hosted by several celebrities, took place at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, British Columbia and was broadcast on Global.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 23rd Gemini Awards were held on November 28, 2008, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Jason Priestley, took place at the John Bassett Theatre in Toronto and was broadcast on Showcase and E!.
Daniel Iron is a Canadian film and television producer. After his company Foundry Films was acquired by Blue Ice Group, he became president of production of that company.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 18th Gemini Awards were held on October 20, 2003, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Seán Cullen, took place at the John Bassett Theatre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 17th Gemini Awards were held on November 4, 2002, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Seán Cullen, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
Muse Entertainment is a Canadian producer of films and television programs founded by Michael Prupas in 1998. The company gained press attention in 2011 for their production of the multi-Emmy winning and nominated miniseries The Kennedys in association with Asylum Entertainment.
Peter Raymont is a Canadian filmmaker and producer and the president of White Pine Pictures, an independent film, television and new media production company based in Toronto. Among his films are Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire (2005), A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman (2007), The World Stopped Watching (2003) and The World Is Watching (1988). The 2011 feature documentary West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson and 2009's Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould were co-directed with Michèle Hozer.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 16th Gemini Awards were held on October 29, 2001, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Mike Bullard, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 13th Gemini Awards were held on October 4, 1998, to honour achievements in Canadian television.. The awards show, which was hosted by Ronnie Edwards and Kenny Robinson, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
Laszlo Barna is a Gemini Award-winning executive producer of television programs and films. Born in Hungary but living and working in Canada, Barna produced prominent television shows such as Da Vinci's Inquest and Blue Murder.
Tim Southam is a Canadian television and film director.
Ric Esther Bienstock is a Canadian documentary filmmaker best known for her investigative documentaries. She was born in Montreal, Quebec and studied at Vanier College and McGill University. She has produced and directed an eclectic array of films from investigative social issue documentaries like Sex Slaves, an investigation into the trafficking of women from former Soviet Bloc Countries into the global sex trade and Ebola: Inside an Outbreak which took viewers to ground zero of the Ebola outbreak in Zaire - to lighter fare such as Penn & Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour.
Barry Stevens is a Toronto-based writer and filmmaker.
John Kemeny was a Hungarian-Canadian film producer whom the Toronto Star called "the forgotten giant of Canadian film history and...the most successful producer in Canadian history." His production credits include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Atlantic City, and Quest for Fire.