Death of Serge Silberman
The French film industry is mourning the death of film producer, Serge Silberman, who passed away in Paris on 22 July at the age of 86. Silberman had a particular knack for choosing films that attained the status of masterpieces and will be sorely missed in France. In the course of his long and illustrious career, he worked with some of the world’s greats, including Melville, Buñuel, Beineix, Kurosawa and Oshima.
Born in Poland in 1917, Serge Silberman spent his formative years in Italy (and studied at the Milan Polytechnic) and Belgium before moving to France. He was a survivor of Hitler’s concentration camps.
He began his filmmaking career as an independent in 1959 when he joined forces with Jean-Pierre Melville to make Bob le Flambeur. He followed this up in 1960 with Le trou by Jacques Becker and worked closely and at length with Luis Buñuel on Le journal d’une femme de chambreLa voie lactée (1969), The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie (1972), Le Fantôme de la liberté (1974) and The Obscure Object of Desire (1977).
Silberman set up his own production slate, Greenwich, and was behind Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1980 Diva, Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 Ran and Nagisa Oshima’s 1986 Max mon amour.
Silberman was rewarded with a Lifetime Achievement César in 1988 and became a filmmaking legend in his own lifetime. This is how he described his contribution to cinema : "I don’t think it’s possible to make a film in less than a year, or 18 months. If you try, you are enslaved, and end up making a product to cover your investment. "
Silberman’s funeral will be held on Monday 28 July at 10.30 at the Père Lachaise cemetary in Paris.
(Translated from French)
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