Serge Silberman

Biography

Serge Silberman (1917–2003) was a French film producer of Polish birth, best known for his work with European and Japanese filmmakers. Born in Łódź to a Jewish family, he survived the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War and later settled in Paris.

His first notable credit as a producer was Jean-Pierre Melville's Bob le Flambeur (1955), an early work linked to the French New Wave. He went on to work with René Clément, Jacques Becker, Nagisa Oshima and Akira Kurosawa, but his closest partnership was with Luis Buñuel. Silberman introduced Buñuel to screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière and produced most of the director's late films, including The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire.

In 1966 he founded Greenwich Film Productions, which went on to make more than fifteen films. His most financially successful production was Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva (1981), which was poorly received in France but became a box-office hit abroad. The profits helped fund Kurosawa's Ran (1985), at the time the most expensive Japanese film ever made. In 1988 he received an honorary César.

His legacy lies in keeping personal, uncompromising projects alive when financing was hard. He died in Paris in 2003, aged 86.

Key films

• Bob le Flambeur (1955), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville: Silberman's first major producing credit and a precursor of the French New Wave.
• Diary of a Chambermaid (1964): the first film in his long run of collaborations with Buñuel.
• The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972): Buñuel's Oscar-winning film for Best Foreign Language Film.
• That Obscure Object of Desire (1977): Buñuel's last feature, produced by Silberman.
• Diva (1981): Beineix's film, Silberman's most financially successful production.
• Ran (1985): Kurosawa's epic, partly funded by the profits of Diva.