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RENÉE SILVERMAN
Her other recent credits include three documentaries on 'Global Warming in Alaska' for the prestigious Weltspiegel series which is comparable to CBS '60 Minutes'; "For the Love of Sports and Money" which explores the effect of money on sports; the German Nova series "From Zero to 42 Kilometers" about a group of non-athletes who train to run the New York City Marathon; "New York: High Speed Society"; on the fast paced lives of Manhattan inhabitants; "Hillary Clinton, The Next American President?", "The 2004 Democratic and Republican Presidential Conventions" and "A Very Social History of the Plaza Hotel" for a prime-time series on the World's Great Hotels. She has also produced and shot, 'Fragile Balance', an hoursegment of the Maternity Ward series for the Learning Channel. As contributing producer, her recent feature documentaries include "Fundamentalism in America"; "Evolution and Creationism"; "The US Media and the Build Up to the War in Iraq" including interviews with President Bill Clinton and Seymour Hersch. Following the attacks of 9-11, she worked four days straight, delivering updated reports on an hourly basis and was later chosen to be one of few producers permitted to interview children of victims on the first year anniversary. In covering cultural topics, Renée has reported on numerous celebrities including a half hour interview with Woody Allen about his film 'Matchpoint'; Tony Bennett and Kevin Spacey on the new Frank Sinatra Performing Arts High School; Johnny Depp and Tim Burton on the making of "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as well as Charlene Theron, Gene Hackman and Danny Glover among many others. She first started working for German Public Television by reporting on the Slave Labor and Holocaust Reparations lawsuits and has gone on to produce hundreds of news reports, covering everything from hurricanes and street gangs to corruption on Wall Street and the inner workings of the Carlyle Group whose board members include former President George Bush, General Collin Powell and James Baker. Some recent reports include "US Soldiers against the War in Iraq" which she filmed in a 24 hour tattoo parlour in Fort Bragg. She also assisted in breaking one of the first reports of torture and rendition of British citizens by the CIA. She was awarded the best producer prize in the short format category from the New York Festival for a story on 'High Tech Prosthetics'. In addition to her work as a documentary producer, Renée is also an award-winning filmmaker. Her short fiction film, 'Other Islands', and its sequel, 'Deep Water', have been screened here and abroad at numerous festivals including the USA Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, the Belarus International Festival for Women’s Film, Cinesisters Film Festival of Germany and the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema among many others. 'Other Islands' was broadcast on TV1 in Europe and was named best short film at the Long Island Film Festival. 'Deep Water' was a finalist at the USA Film Festival. Both films have been distributed by Forefront Films. Viewed together, the two films conjure the passage of time through its use of the same actors, and the shifting nature of intimate relations. Renée started her career as an assistant working on "Bloodhounds of Broadway" with Madonna and Matt Dillon among many others. She worked as assistant to film director, Jerry Schatzberg on 'Reunion' which was set in Nazi Germany and starred Jason Robards with a script by Harold Pinter. Renée has taught in the film departments of the School of Visual Arts and the Continuing Education division of NYU. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with an honors degree in English, and holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature from New York University School of Arts and Sciences which she attended on full scholarship. She spent a semester abroad at the University of Haifa in Israel where she studied Hebrew. She is fluent in German and reads French. Renée is an avid traveler, a passionate movie goer and a collector of antiques and vintage fashion. She lives on the Upper West Side. |
A native New Yorker, Renée Silverman is a seasoned producer who has worked for majornetworks including PBS, ARD and ZDF German Public Television Networks, the BBC, ChannelFour, UK and NHK as well as cable outlets including The Learning Channel, The Food Network and Fashion TV. Most recently, she worked as a production manager for "A Class Apart: The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement" which will be broadcast on PBS' American Experience series. 
