Ryan Silbert Wins Genie Award

Port native Ryan Silbert and Ian Harnarine on Thursday scored a Genie Award – what some describe as the Canadian version of The Academy Awards – for their film, "Doubles with Slight Pepper."

The film won for Best Live Action Short at the ceremony in Toronto.

Silbert, a graduate, served as producer, along with Harnarine, who also wrote and directed the film. Spike Lee served as executive producer.  

"Doubles with Slight Pepper" tells the story of Dhani, a rural Trinidadian, whose life takes a turn when his estranged father returns. 

"We're sooo excited," said Silbert's father, Marc, of Sands Point, via e-mail about the award.

When it comes to awards and honors, Ryan Silbert is no stranger. 

Silbert co-produced which in 2011 won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film. Directed, written and starring Luke Matheny, the film is billed as a the story of "a lovestruck, lounge-singing darts champion who finds his prayers are answered – literally – when he mysteriously receives a box of love-inducing darts." 

Silbert also co-produced the 2010 Sundance Feature Film selection, "Holy Rollers," starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha, a film about Hasidic Jews who smuggled Ecstasy into the United States during the 1990s.