Joan Micklin Silver

Biography: Joan Micklin Silver, educated at Sarah Lawrence, has written, produced and/or directed 20 cinematic and television films, working as well in the theater and most recently in radio (1995's Jewish Short Stories from Eastern Europe and Beyond). She produced On the Yard [1978], which was directed by her huaband, Rafael Silver, who has, in turn, produced many of her films.

The daughter of Byelorussian Jewish immigrants, whose parents brought them to the U.S. when they were children, Silver often turns to her Jewish heritage as a touchstone for her art. Her 1975 Hester Street, filmed for $370,000 in Yiddish and English and starring a then-unknown Carol Kane and the late Steven Keats, drew heavily upon stories about the immigrant experience she'd heard growing up. It almost didn't get released; no studio would touch it due to its Jewish themes -- one suggested that all the Jews in it be rewritten as Italians -- but independent film director John Cassavettes encouraged the SilversJoan Micklin Silver, educated at Sarah Lawrence, has written, produced and/or directed 20 cinematic and television films, working as well in the theater and most recently in radio (1995's Jewish Short Stories from Eastern Europe and Beyond). She produced On the Yard [1978], which was directed by her huaband, Rafael Silver, who has, in turn, produced many of her films.

The daughter of Byelorussian Jewish immigrants, whose parents brought them to the U.S. when they were children, Silver often turns to her Jewish heritage as a touchstone for her art. Her 1975 Hester Street, filmed for $370,000 in Yiddish and English and starring a then-unknown Carol Kane and the late Steven Keats, drew heavily upon stories about the immigrant experience she'd heard growing up. It almost didn't get released; no studio would touch it due to its Jewish themes -- one suggested that all the Jews in it be rewritten as Italians -- but independent film director John Cassavettes encouraged the Silvers to distribute it themselves. The film made seven million dollars at the box office.)

Her other directorial achievements include an early Sam Waterston/Mary Tyler Moore flick for HBO, Finnegan Begin Again [1985]; and the popular Crossing Delancey[1988] starring Amy Irving. Her 1977 Between the Lines featured an ensemble cast of relative unknowns who went on to achieve some measure of fame, among them Jill Eikenberry, Lindsay Crouse, Marilu Henner, Jeff Goldblum, Joe Morton and John Heard, who also starred in her 1979/1981 Chilly Scenes of Winter, which was reedited with a happier ending and released first as Head Over Heels and later in its original form and title.

Silver is vice president of SilverFilm Productions, Inc. She has was nominated for a Writer's Guild award for best screenplay and won the 1975 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival's Interfilm Award (tying with Straße im Widerstand (1975)) for Hester Street (which garnered Carol Kane an Oscar nomination). At the 1977 Berlin International Film Festival, Between the Lines earned her the Interfilm Award - Otto Dibelius Film Award; the Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost" and a Golden Berlin Bear nomination.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association honored her with the New Generation Award, also in 1977, and in 1985 Locarno International Film Festival awarded her the Silver Leopard's Eye for Finnegan Begin Again. In 1985 Silver aptly enough won the Locarno International Film Festival's Silver Leopard's Eye for Finnegan Begin Again.
On April 23, 1960, the Silvers were mutually awarded a baby filmmaker/fiction writer, Marisa, who has written one film and directed six others,including the 1991 He Said She Said and a 1986 episode of L.A. Law. Her 1984 Old Enough was co-produced with her sister, Dina Micklin Silver,who is president of Midwest Film Productions (located not in the midwest but in New York City). Their sister Claudia Silver writes, directs and acts in films (including her mother's Hester Street and Crossing Delancy as well as her sister's He Said She Said.… Expand