Silver Tjepkema (2002, Amsterdam) is a Dutch filmmaker and visual artist working at the intersection of documentary and fiction. She graduated in Audiovisual Arts at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels in 2025, after previous studies at European Film College in Denmark and Aalto University in Finland.
Ambiguity is central to Silver's practice. She is drawn to grey areas; moments where you find yourself at odds with your own morals, where autonomy and desire pull against each other, where watching and being watched entangle. Her films sit in that tension, moving between raw realism and dreamlike abstraction to explore female sexuality and the quiet psychological charge of being seen.
Awards & Nominations
2026
ARTE Award - Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg, Germany. (Heaven Will Wait)
German Film Critics Association, Special Mention - Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg, Germany. (Heaven Will Wait)
Selected as ‘one of 26 under 26’ in Het Parool.
https://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/de-26-van-26-dit-zijn-de-grootste-jonge-talenten-van-amsterdam-volgens-het-parool~bb32d198/
2024
Audience Award - Sunday Shorts Festival, Lisbon, Portugal. (Jongens Zonder Koevoet)
2023
2023: Best Production Design Award - HUGO Awards, Copenhagen, Denmark. (Pulled Together)
2018: Best Fiction Film - National Film Festival for Scholars,
The Netherlands. (Droom)
Festival Selections
2026
Festival of Future Storytellers, 2026, Munich, Germany.
International Short Film CompetitionKasseler DokFest, 2026, Kassel, Germany
Junges DokfestBREEDBEELD Short Film Festival, 2026, Antwerp, Belgium
International competitionFestival Dei Popoli, 2026 - Florence, Italy.
European Doc AcademyInternationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, 2026 - Winterthur, Switzerland
Sparks IIUppsala Short Film Festival, 2026 - Uppsala, Sweden
International competitionFilm Fest Gent, 2026 - Gent, Belgium.
Student competitionSHORTCUTZ, 2026 - Amsterdam,The Netherlands
Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, 2026 - Germany, Hamburg
International competitionMecal Pro, 2026 - Barcelona, Spain.
Dutch nightGoShort, 2026 - Netherlands
New Arrivals & National Competition
2024
Sunday Shorts Festival, 2024 - Lisbon, Portugal.
2023
HUGO Awards, 2023 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
Education
2022 - 2025: Bachelor in Audiovisual arts, Magma Cum Laude, LUCA School Of Arts.
2024 - 2025: Exchange semester MA Directing, AALTO University Helsinki.
2021 - 2022: European Film College, Denmark.
2020 - 2021: Orientation Course Gerrit Rietveld Academie.