Shelly Silver

A short, graphically dynamic work contrasting contradictory views of perception and interpretation, by way of society's assumptions vis-a-vis phallocentrism and fetishism.

A short, graphically dynamic work contrasting contradictory views of perception and interpretation, by way of society's assumptions vis-a-vis phallocentrism and fetishism.

A short, graphically dynamic work contrasting contradictory views of perception and interpretation, by way of society's assumptions vis-a-vis phallocentrism and fetishism.

in complete world is a feature-length documentary made up of street interviews done throughout NYC. Mixing political questions (Are we responsible for the government we get?) with more broadly existential ones (Do you feel you have control over your life?), the film centers on the tension between individual and collective responsibility. The film can be seen as a user's manual for citizenship in the 21st century, as well as a glimpse into the opinions and self-perceptions of a diverse group of Americans. It is a testament to the people of NYC in this new millennium, who freely offer up thoughtful, provocative and at times tender revelations to a complete stranger, just because she asked.

A man returns, after fifty years, to Chinatown to care for his dying mother. He is a librarian, a cataloguer and recorder, a gay man, a watcher, an impersonator. He passes his time collecting images - his witnesses and collaborators. Sitting in the dark, we look at them and share his cloak of invisibility, both a benefit and a curse.

A man returns, after fifty years, to Chinatown to care for his dying mother. He is a librarian, a cataloguer and recorder, a gay man, a watcher, an impersonator. He passes his time collecting images - his witnesses and collaborators. Sitting in the dark, we look at them and share his cloak of invisibility, both a benefit and a curse.

Science fiction and desire collide when an American researcher meets a Japanese translator. Clouds drift beyond the towering high rise blocks; down below, nature suffocates in a Tokyo river.

Science fiction and desire collide when an American researcher meets a Japanese translator. Clouds drift beyond the towering high rise blocks; down below, nature suffocates in a Tokyo river.

OUT OF DARKNESS: THE MINE WORKERS' STORY is a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY, USA). Historical film footage and photographs are integrated with first-hand accounts of UMWA history and of the Pittston strike of 1989-90.

Made up of hundreds of street interviews done in Berlin two years after the Reunification, Former East/Former West is a vital, surprisingly open, and at times disturbing documentary about what it means to be German at this particular moment in history.

A diverse program of films and videos by various artists who challenge conventional representations of gender, family and sexuality, curated by Tom Kalin for Drift Distribution.

A woman's voyage through the malls, airports and train stations of Asia, Europe and Central America, chronicling her fiercely hopeful and desperate search for a reason to continue living.

A disturbing intrusion into the luxurious homes of Silicon Valley. Using an aggressive soundtrack and a full frame often fractured into small rectangles covered by text, Silver reveals a deafening violence behind the glittering beauty and deceptively calm of this suburban landscape. There is no human presence, but the homes seem to contain a memory of disturbing events, to bear the traces of a savagery just offscreen.

You live somewhere, walk down the same street 50, 100, 10,000 times, each time taking in fragments, but never fully registering The Place. Years, decades go by and you continue, unseeing, possibly unseen. A building comes down, and before the next one is up you ask yourself 'what used to be there?' You are only vaguely aware of the district's shifting patterns and the sense that, since the 19th century, wave after wave of inhabitants have moved through and transformed these alleyways, tenements, stoops and shops. 10 square blocks, past, present, future, time, light, movement, immigration, exclusion, gentrification, racism, history, China, America, 3 languages, 13 voices, 152 years, 17,820 frames, 9 minutes, 54 seconds, 9 questions, 5 lessons, Chinatown

Filming is alchemy; preserving, seeing, devouring, cutting. Chopping the flow of images with a push of a button. It privileges a solitary unseen protagonist, choosing this over that and then that, it eats anything, not everything,

Science fiction and desire collide when an American researcher meets a Japanese translator. Clouds drift beyond the towering high rise blocks; down below, nature suffocates in a Tokyo river.

Explores the relationships among grandmothers, mothers and daughters in a changing Japanese society.

The Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven was an unsung member of the Dada Movement. The Baroness was a poet, artist, vaudeville performer, runaway, rabble rouser, crossdresser, and all around public provocateur. As with many women artists throughout history, her cultural legacy has been obscured.

In 1959, Jean Seberg stares into Raoul Coutard’s 35mm camera lens and then turns – the closing frame of Godard’s Breathless is the back of her head. For the film it is a closing. For her character it is less clear. Is it a refusal? A denial? A shying away from? An admission of guilt or not caring? A disappearing act? In 2017 on the streets of Berlin, twenty-three women, friends and passersby, reverse Seberg’s action.

Art is in the eye of the beholder, they say. Shelly Silver’s beholders range in age from seven to nineteen years. They focus their attention on artworks in the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts. Their spontaneous interpretations of the works allow for resonances: both, the paintings as well as their young reviewers, reveal different things about themselves, depending on the point of view.

Chinatown is an evocative place. It exists in our cities, in our imaginations, on our television screens, and in our memories. It is at once a sprawling, vibrant immigrant community and a forgotten strip mall of buffet restaurants.

This spellbinding documentary re-examines the issues raised by Oliver Stone's JFK, and explores the late Jim Garrison's contention that there was a "second conspiracy" to cover up the truth, including attempts to ruin his own reputation.

A story of mortality, friendship, revenge, murder and the supernatural, as two friends come together to try to figure out how to live, while being besieged by malignant messages from the dead. Juxtaposing black-and-white film with color video, and fusing narrative elements of drama, comedy and documentary, Silver provides a structure that allows for a plurality of voices to speak: two women who were childhood friends, people on the street who are interviewed for "market research," and the observations of dead people who watch the living on television monitors. Truth and fiction are blurred as the dead communicate with the living and real people are interviewed by fictional characters. The title refers to a statement by Gustave Flaubert that what is most telling about a historical period is not what it leaves behind but what is lost.

A story of mortality, friendship, revenge, murder and the supernatural, as two friends come together to try to figure out how to live, while being besieged by malignant messages from the dead. Juxtaposing black-and-white film with color video, and fusing narrative elements of drama, comedy and documentary, Silver provides a structure that allows for a plurality of voices to speak: two women who were childhood friends, people on the street who are interviewed for "market research," and the observations of dead people who watch the living on television monitors. Truth and fiction are blurred as the dead communicate with the living and real people are interviewed by fictional characters. The title refers to a statement by Gustave Flaubert that what is most telling about a historical period is not what it leaves behind but what is lost.

A group of cops laugh and talk, while scanning the street for suspicious activity. An extreme close-up of a sensuously exposed neck; a soft pink fleshy ear turns to reveal an inquisitive hostile eye.... [Overview courtesy of Shelly Silver]

Starting with the deceptively soothing pastel hues of a sunny afternoon in San Francisco, getting in stages a collision between two rarely questioned phenomenon, heterosexual sex and real estate.

Starting with the deceptively soothing pastel hues of a sunny afternoon in San Francisco, getting in stages a collision between two rarely questioned phenomenon, heterosexual sex and real estate.

Starting with the deceptively soothing pastel hues of a sunny afternoon in San Francisco, getting in stages a collision between two rarely questioned phenomenon, heterosexual sex and real estate.