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]