Christoph Silber


Christoph Silber, born April 26, 1971 in Berlin as Christoph Schuenke, is a British-German film producer, screenwriter and director based in Los Angeles. Rated among "Europe's hottest new screenwriters" by Screen International, he frequently collaborates on projects in the United States.

Early life

Silber spent most of his childhood and youth in Germany. Raised bilingual, he studied in London and Berlin. His mother is a philosopher and award-winning literary translator, his foster father was a well-known Shakespeare scholar and dramaturge. Writing runs in Silber's family. Apart from his parents, several relatives and ancestors were journalists or published authors.

Career

Silber worked as an actor, translator and journalist prior to his professional writing career. Taking advantage of his bilingual upbringing, he translated film-related books and screenplays for German book publishers, including Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. The book became a best-seller and led to Silber's first assignment as a playwright. In 1995 the acclaimed Vienna Burgtheater asked him to adapt Puccini's Tosca for a stage production. This led to further theatre work and connections in the film industry.
Silber's screenwriting career began in European television in the mid 1990s. A genre traveller, Silber worked as a head writer of sitcoms as well as crime series. Silber has collaborated on numerous films, including the award-winning Good Bye, Lenin!, North Face, My Last Day Without You and Arranged. He also established himself on the family entertainment market with his feature film scripts for the highly successful Enid Blyton-based Hanni & Nanni franchise. Several of his contributions to German television have broken ratings records.
Based in Los Angeles since 2012, Silber has been honoured by the Vilcek Foundation as "an immigrant filmmaker...whose creative spirit enlivens and inspires American cinema."

Personal life

In 2000 Silber married Joleita Reed, whom he had met during a business trip to New York in the previous year. The story of their chance encounter inspired his film My Last Day Without You. Reed died from cancer in 2013. Silber's desire to encourage others experiencing similar journeys inspired his film and book project Cloud 13.

Filmography

Theatrical

Wins