Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Glenn Silber (’72) recently discussed his experiences, techniques, and approach to documentary filmmaking in Professor Bill Brown’s Comm Arts 651: Advanced Video Production & Direction class. A professional producer and director in the fields of documentary and news magazine filmmaking for more than 30-years, Silber discussed his landmark film The War at Home (1979) about the 1960s anti-Vietnam War protests in Madison and his new film Labor Day (2009), about the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the 2008 presidential campaign.
Previously, Silber has been an independent and network television news magazine producer for CBS and ABC. While at CBS, he specialized in social issue investigations, producing the Emmy Award winning Children of the Homeless. At ABC News 20/20, Silber’s stories ranged from investigative pieces about terrorist movements in New Jersey before 9/11, to producing the first prime-time interview with an Abu Ghraib prison guard. Silber also co-produced the one-hour re-examination of the Matthew Shepard homicide for 20/20 which received a Writers Guild of America Award in 2005. His work has been nominated for two Academy Awards for The War at Home and El Salvador: Another Vietnam (1981) and he has won the George Polk Award for The Great American Bailout (1991) and the Alfred I. DuPont – Columbia University Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.
Since 2007, Silber has been a partner and co-founder of Catalyst Media Productions, a media production and consulting firm.