Born to Russian Jewish parents in Omaha, Nebraska, Joan Micklin Silver launched her feature film career in 1975 with
Hester Street, a film based on a short story by Abraham Cahan. She wrote the screenplay as well as directing the film that portrays the Jewish-American immigrant experience and which served as a tribute to her parents and heritage.
Initially a music teacher and freelance writer in Cleveland, Ohio, Micklin Silver was inspired to work in film when she saw Satyajit Ray’s
Pather Panchali (1955). When her family moved to New York City in 1967, she seized this opportunity and began her filmmaking career as a screenwriter for educational film companies. Commissioned by the Learning Corporation of America, Micklin Silver wrote and directed the short
Everett
The pioneering writer-director fought to bring Jewish stories to the silver screen at a time when some of her projects were considered an ethnic oddity, she has said.
Joan Micklin Silver, the pioneering independent female director behind
Hester Street and
Crossing Delancey, among many other titles, who fought to bring Jewish stories to the silver screen, has died. She was 85.
Silver died on Thursday at her home in Manhattan of vascular dementia, Silver s daughter, Claudia, told
Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska to Russian Jewish parents, Silver left home to attend Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Not long after her graduation in 1956, Silver married the son of a Cleveland-based Zionist rabbi, Raphael D. Silver, and the couple settled in Cleveland, where Silver taught music classes and wrote plays as she worked to raise three children.
Joan Micklin Silver, Crossing Delancey Director, Dead at 85 vulture.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vulture.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Joan Micklin Silver, Director of âCrossing Delancey,â Dies at 85
She broke barriers for women, directing seven feature films, including âHester Streetâ and âBetween the Lines,â as well as TV movies.
Joan Micklin Silver in the late 1970s while filming an adaptation of the Ann Beattie novel “Chilly Scenes of Winter.” She had a love-hate relationship with movie studios.Credit.United Artists, via Photofest
Published Jan. 1, 2021Updated Jan. 4, 2021
Joan Micklin Silver, the filmmaker whose first feature, âHester Street,â expanded the marketplace for American independent film and broke barriers for women in directing, died on Thursday at her home in Manhattan. She was 85.