Raphael Silver News Today

Joan Micklin Silver, who died on Dec. 31 at age 85, proved that for American Jewish women, being a film director means facing challenges of assimilation not unlike those confronted by immigrant ancestors generations ago. Like the “Bintel Brief” Yiddish advice column in The Forverts, “Yekl,” like “Hester Street,” seethed with passions of Russian Jews trying to adapt to a new world. The low-budget informality and authenticity of “Hester Street,” much of it performed in Yiddish, wa...

LOS ANGELES: Joan Micklin Silver, who forged a path for female directors and independent filmmakers with movies including Hester Street and Crossing Delancey, has died.

Remembering Joan Micklin Silver, Director of “Hester Street” and “Crossing Delancey” A trailblazer for women in Hollywood, director Joan Micklin Silver, died this past week at her home in New York City at the age of 85. Her first film, “Hester Street,” and most well-known project, “Crossing Delancey,” were, of course, set in and inspired by the Lower East Side. Silver wrote the screenplay for “Hester Street,” telling the story of assimilation of Jewish immigrants from Russia...