Modern Silent Shorts was established in 2023 by Boykin Curry with the explicit goal of commissioning new works of silent film as a means of re-examining the medium’s original form through a contemporary lens.

In 2024, four directors were chosen as the inaugural class of filmmakers for Modern Silent Shorts. Their films were fully funded through the initiative and given a premiere at Mama Farm with live, original score.

In 2025, six more filmmakers were invited to participate in the initiative. Their shorts premiered on July 24th at Mama Farm .

In 2026, Modern Silent Shorts will tour a selection of our catalogue across the North East accompanied by live, original music composed by Kevin Donald.

Films commissioned by Modern Silent Shorts have gone on to screen at Palm Springs, Slamdance, Rooftop, Short of the Week, and Nitehawk Film Festival.

The long term goal of Modern Silent Shorts is to create a canon of silent films to play as a single program in public screenings across the country.

Lily Weisberg & Michael Bloom (co-founders)

Lily & Michael founded Modern Silent Shorts alongside Boykin Curry in 2023. They are the producers of the initiative and its screenings. Lily & Michael have also worked as producers across all 12 silent short films.

Lily Weisberg is a director/producer from New York. Her most recent film, Rare Birds is premiering at the 2026 Tribeca Festival.

Michael Bloom is a writer/producer based in Brooklyn, NY. He is in post-production as a producer the feature film, Living History, a documentary about the town of Virginia City. Michael also wrote and produced Rare Birds.

Kevin Donald (composer)

Kevin Donald is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in New York.  He's released music as Let Me Ask My Mother, Congrats Grad, and most recently under his own name, with an EP out in late 2025.  As a composer, he's frequently collaborated with Michael Bloom and Aedan Roney, providing music for their public access show Our Town and several short films. He’s also recently scored the feature film, Caity (directed by MSS alum Lindsay Calleran), which played in competition at Tribeca.