La Sierra University Film Professor Wins International Emmy

At the 41st International Emmy Awards at the New York Hilton, acclaimed screenwriter and La Sierra University adjunct film and television professor Christoph Silber won for his writing in “A Day For A Miracle.”  Silber’s film won in the TV Movie/Miniseries category.

In a La Sierra University press release, Silber discussed his motivation in choosing the project.  The story addresses “this huge moral question, about how far can we interfere with life, do miracles exist, or can we, through our own resilience for hope, make something miraculous happen by not letting go,” he said. “We’re leaving it up to the viewer to decide.”

Silber, raised bilingually in Berlin and London, is credited in over twenty films and television programs, and has a litany of awards to his name dating back to 2001 including BAFTA and European Film Award wins, Golden Globe and Emmy nominations and numerous honors at international film festivals. Screen International dubbed him “one of Europe’s hottest new screenwriters.” Silber is particularly known for period films such as the 2003 international hit “Good Bye Lenin” and the critically acclaimed 2008 mountain drama, “North Face.” This year’s Emmy win sits among his highest accolades to date.

The critical reception of “Day For A Miracle” has been very positive, and the public has shown tremendous support as well. According to La Sierra’s release, numerous physicians and nurses wrote letters thanking the creators of “Day For A Miracle” for making a movie that accurately depicts the world in which they work. “I’ve been blessed with a good career, but I’ve never had responses like this to a film,” Silber said.

In 2011 the Vilcek Foundation honored Silber as “an immigrant filmmaker…whose creative spirit enlivens and inspires American cinema.” His most recent projects include the multiple award-winning New York love story, “My Last Day Without You” and the period caper “Banklady.”

Silber is currently working with a production company in London on a television mini-series titled “Nuremberg.” The project is based on the infamous Nuremberg trials that took place between in 1945 and 1949 in Nuremberg, Germany to hold Nazi war leaders accountable for crimes against humanity.

In between television projects, Silber teaches two television screenwriting and writing classes each quarter at La Sierra University, his first experience with regular classroom instruction. He arrived in 2012 at the behest of the program’s director and professor Rodney Vance. The two met last year at the SonScreen Film Festival in Simi Valley where Silber conducted a question-and-answer session with students.

Upon Vance’s invitation to teach, Silber visited La Sierra. “I fell in love with the campus, with the atmosphere here,” he said. “I’m really enjoying it. The first class I taught I saw freshmen who were insecure. I saw them express themselves and grow [in many] ways.

I’m really looking forward to the future. We have big plans.”