Victor Silverman is an Emmy-award winning filmmaker, historian and author. An internationally recognized scholar and the recipient of many prestigious fellowships and grants, Professor Silverman is the author of numerous books and articles. His films have screened on national and international television and in hundreds of film festivals, universities and community events around the world. He has expertise in the past and present of U.S. foreign relations, global institutions, and world social movements. This year he is on leave as the Fulbright/García U.S. Studies at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México – ITAM. His most recent film, “Getting High,” (2017) is a provocative, feature-length documentary about his family’s collision with drugs and alcohol set against a backdrop of our society’s bitter conflicts about the “War on Drugs.” Professor Silverman directed, produced, and wrote with Susan Stryker the Emmy-winning film “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria,” about the night in 1966 when trans women and drag queens fought back against police violence in San Francisco's tough Tenderloin neighborhood. Professor Silverman is the author of three books—plus an in-progress manuscript co-authored with Pomona Professor Miguel Tinker Salas: Trumplandia: The US and Latin America in the Age of Smoke and Mirrors. His other works include California: On the Road Histories; Los Angeles Times Front Page; and Imagining Internationalism. He has published numerous articles in the scholarly and popular press in the US and internationally. Professor Silverman’s scholarly work encompasses a diversity of topics including US, international politics, labor, Jewish, and environmental history. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990 and has taught at universities in the US, China and Mexico. Silverman has worked as union organizer and consulted with the international labor movement on sustainable development policy. He is a former radio public service and dramatic program producer and writer for KPFA, Berkeley and KRRC in Portland. He authored several plays and screenplays, including a stage adaptation of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” which he directed. He also has been an actor, dancer, construction laborer and plumber.

Victor Silverman’s career has spanned history, politics, writing, film, and theater. He is Emeritus Professor at Pomona College, where he taught for 29 years and was chair of the History Department and the program in American Studies. His current projects include: "The US and Latin America in the Age of Smoke and Mirrors" a book written with Miguel Tinker Salas; "Cowboys vs Aliens: The Celluloid Border” a documentary film in progress that shows the dreams and nightmares portrayed in films that led to a century of fights over immigrants and identity in the US; "The Three Voyages of the Benjoyas: Exile, Revolution and Hope Across the Modern World" about a Sephardic Jewish family thrust upon the ocean of history by ethnic cleansing as they search for belonging in the new and old worlds. His last film, "Getting High," is a provocative, feature-length documentary about his family’s collision with drugs and alcohol set against a backdrop of our society’s bitter conflicts about the “War on Drugs.” Professor Silverman co-directed, co-produced, and co-wrote the Emmy-winning film “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria,” which aired on nationally on PBS in 2006. Often quoted in the press for his expertise in politics and history, Professor Silverman is the author of many books and articles including: California: On the Road Histories; Los Angeles Times Front Page; and Imagining Internationalism. His scholarly work encompasses a diversity of topics including US, international politics, labor, Jewish, queer, and environmental history. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990 and has taught at universities in the US and China. Silverman is a former public service and dramatic program producer and writer for KPFA-FM Radio, Berkeley. He also has extensive experience and training in theater. Silverman studied theater and dance at Bard College and continued his training at Epic West and the studio of the Blake Street Hawkeyes in California. He has authored several plays and screenplays, including a stage adaptation of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” which he directed. His script Out of the Shadow, a feature film on the life of immigrant writer Rose Cohen, was optioned. He also has been an actor, dancer, union organizer, construction laborer, and plumber Specialties: US and International History & Politics; California Studies; Film and Video Production; Screenwriting; Grantwriting;Public Policy, Labor Studies.

Victor Silverman is an Emmy-award winning filmmaker, historian and author. An internationally recognized scholar and the recipient of many prestigious fellowships and grants, Professor Silverman is the author of numerous books and articles. His films have screened on national and international television and in hundreds of film festivals, universities, and community events around the world.