Profile
Artist, filmmaker, Jonny Silver, studied art, philosophy and literature at St Edwards University in Austin, Texas, (on an athletic scholarship) then returned to his native Toronto to attend the Ontario College of Art where he studied under some of Canada’s most celebrated artists including, Graham Coughtry, Tom Hodgson, Michael Snow and composer, Udo Kasemets. As a student, he won awards for his work in sculpture, installation art and experimental film. His art education included an assistantship with cubist painter Arthur Langlet (pupil of cubism founder Georges Braque) at Atelier International de Séguret in southern France. Silver had solo shows at A Space, Toronto, Ed Video, Guelph, and at the Canadian Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia. Work from this period was also featured in group-shows at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, Canada House, London, and the Goethe Institute, Berlin.
He followed a filmmaking career starting at the National Film Board of Canada directing his experimental music film, Kubota, featuring artist-architect-musician Nobuo Kubota. As a freelance director, Silver worked in both the English and French sectors of the Canadian film-TV industry. He became a specialist in contrasting genres, Performing Arts and Crime TV, directing on award-winning series, specials and documentaries for domestic and international audiences. His work took him across Canada, throughout Europe, to Central America and the Middle East. Working in prime time allowed him to continue producing his own art-house projects including features, Lonely Child and Pio and The Cracks, psychodrama, Rue d'Enfer, modern dance film, Ecstasy Forbidden and installation film, Return of the Cubes.
Silver’s artistic output included a body of work in digital photography which mirrored his film work in its exploration of psychological themes. His style of “photomontage” resembling puzzle-images, has been featured in art books, web-based projects and group exhibitions including the Dada Reboot show at Toronto’s 2012 Nuit Blanche and the 2015 Liquid Rooms show at the Palazzo Ca’Zinardi in Venice. Silver also formed, Site Crew, with designer, Len Rydahl, to develop public art installations including, Udotimeshape, featured at a 2015 concert by, Arraymusic, one of Canada’s foremost contemporary ensembles and, Return of The Cubes, an installation of sculpture, photomontage and video at Toronto’s Bauhaus2digital Gallery in 2017. Silver has held part-time teaching positions at Toronto’s Centennial College since 2011 and he spent 2013 teaching Photography and Visual Aesthetics at the Ciné Institute in Jacmel, Haiti, from where he authored a book of field notes and photographs, published as, A Season in Haiti. Silver has decrypted visual codes, read forbidden books, has seen ghosts, and has had out-of-body experiences.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Art House Films
Producer-Director-Camera – Return of The Cubes - Producer: Site Crew – 2017
Producer-Writer-Director- Ecstasy Forbidden –– OAC/Bravofact! - 2011
Producer, Writer, Director – Rue d’Enfer – Producer: Silverfilm 2008
Producer, Writer, Director – Pio and the Cracks – Producer: Silverfilm – Br: Bravo! 2005
Director, CoWriter – L’heure Zulu – Coproduction: Médiatique Inc+National Film Board of Canada, French Studio – Br: TFO, Télé-Québec 1999
Producer, CoWriter, Director – Lonely Child – Producer: Silverfilm – Broadcasters: CBC,SRC,TFO,TVO,Fr2 1989
Producer, Director, Editor – Ubu Étude – Producer: Silverfilm – Broadcaster: CBC,PBS 1984
Director, Writer, Editor – Kubota – Producer: National Film Board of Canada – Broadcaster:
C-Channel (Canada), NHK-World (Japan) 1983
English Television
Director – Unmasking the Pagan Christ – Prod: D Brady Productions – Br: Vision TV 2009
Director – 72 Hours-True Crime – Series Producer: Kensington Communications – Broadcaster: CBC,Canal D, Bold, CourtTV, Ichannel, National Geographic Channel, Netflix – Season Three 2006/07: 4 Episodes -- Season Two 2004/05: 5 Episodes, Season One 2003/04: 4 Episodes
Director – Forensic Factor – Series Producer: IP Productions+Discovery – Br: CTV, Discovery Channel Canada, UK and US – Season Three 2004/05: 4 Episodes
Director – Exhibit ‘A’ Secrets of Forensic Science – Series Prod: Creative Anarchy – Br: CTV, TLC, History Television, Canal D, National Geographic Channel - Season Five 2001: 2 Episodes
Director, Writer – Special Moments - Coproduction: Film Link Inc+CBC – Br: CBC 1992
Director, Writer – Trade Secrets – Producer: CBC – Broadcaster: CBC 1985
Director, Writer – Queen-Spadina - Producer: CBC – Broadcaster: CBC 1984
French Television
Director, Writer – Devenir – Producer: Médiatique Inc. – Broadcaster: ARTV, TFO, 2004
Director, CoWriter – Espaces imaginaires – Producer: Médiatique Inc. – Br: ARTV, TFO, 2003
Director – Cartes Postales – Producer:Les Productions SA – Br:TFO,SRC,TSR, RTB 2001
Director, Writer – Méga Hallowe’en – Producer: TFO/UNICEF – Broadcaster: TFO 1998
Director, CoWriter – La rue Yonge – Producer: Médiatique Inc. – Br: TFO,SRC,TSR,RTB 1997 Director – Cinéma Canadien – 13 Episodes – Series Producer: TFO – Broadcaster: TFO 1997
Director – Dimanche Classique – 13 Episodes – Series Producer:TFO – Broadcaster: TFO 1996
Director, Writer – Arabesque – Producer: TFO – Broadcaster: TFO, 1994
FILM FESTIVALS
Return of the Cubes – Calcutta, Madras, Singapore -- 2021
Ecstasy Forbidden – Naples, Buenos Aires, Tokyo – 2011
Unmasking The Pagan Christ – Yorkton, Houston – 2009, 2010
Rue d’Enfer – Wildsound, Toronto, Best Photography Award – 2008
Pio And The Cracks – Canadian Filmmakers, Toronto – 2005
Lonely Child – Montreal, San Francisco, Vilnius – 1990-1993
Ubu Étude – Images (Toronto), Sables d’Olonne (France) – 1984-1986
Kubota – Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, San Francisco, Krakov, Tokyo – 1984-1987
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Investigating the Perfect Crime – Thesis Exhibition, Open Gallery, Toronto – 2020 (cancelled)
Return of the Cubes – (with Site Crew) – Installation at Bauhaus2digital Gallery, Toronto 2017
Udotimeshape – (with Site Crew) – Installation at Arrayspace, Toronto, 2015
Canadian Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia 1986 (films)
Ed Video, Guelph, Ontario 1981 (video)
A Space, Toronto, Ontario 1978 (films and video)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Liquid Rooms – the Palazzo Ca’Zinardi in Venice, Italy – 2015 (photomontage)
Nuit Blanche – Dada Reboot – Toronto 2012 (photomontage)
Cinéastes Canadiens – Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 1985 (film)
New Generation – Canada House, London, UK 1984 (film)
Atelier de Séguret – Goethe Institute, Berlin, Germany 1980 (video)
Ontario College of Art Group Show – The Funnel Experimental Film Theatre, Toronto 1980
Fifth Network Video Conference – Travelling Video Show across Canada 1978 (video)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Visual Aesthetics & Photography at Ciné Institute, Jacmel, Haiti – 2012– 2013
Part-time instructor at Centennial College, Toronto, Canada:
Visual Aesthetics – 2015 to 2022 Screenwriting 2014 to 2021
The Language of Film 2014 to 2021 Video Editing – 2012 and 2014
Filmmaking for Cinema, TV and Multiplatform– 2011, 2012
EDUCATION
Ontario College of Art & Design University, Toronto, MFA 2020
Assistantship – Arthur Langlet –Atelier International de Séguret, France 1976, 1977, 1979
Ontario College of Art, Toronto 1970-1975 – Experimental Arts -- AOCA
St Edwards University, Austin, Texas, USA –– 1969
PAST MENTORS
Sophie Arthaud, writer and producer from France with whom I collaborated on numerous television and writing projects in Canada and Europe
Arthur Hammond, Producer who gave me my first professional gig and fostered my experimental film from beginning to end at the National Film Board of Canada
Arthur Langlet, cubist painter, student of cubist founder, Georges Braque, founder and director of Atelier International de Séguret in southern France who took me under his wing on my residencies at the Atelier
PUBLICATIONS
Gallery in Print, Vantage Art Projects, Vancouver, 2009 (published images)
A Season in Haiti, based on the blog, published by Jackson Place, Toronto, 2014 (author and photographer)
FILM ARCHIVES
National Archives, Ottawa – Lonely Child
National Film Board, Montreal – Kubota, L’heure Zulu
Museum of Modern Art, New York – Ubu Étude