Nelson Silva

NJ Silva was born in Lisbon Portugal Since a very early age he seemed to be attracted by the moving images The love of writing is own stories started when he was around 5 years old The desire to tell stories to people made him desire a career in journalism When he was 13 years old NJ wrote his first ever screenplay it was called The Highschool It was a 20 minute short film that described his state of mind in his surroundings Casting his own friends as actors and convincing one teacher to help with the production NJ directed his first ever short film at the age of 13 Unfortunately the film was never completed but the filmmaking bug inside him was born Only when he finished highschool he realized that journalism didnt satisfy his evergrowing imagination At the age of 17 and after applying and being accepted in a major university in journalism NJ enrolled in the film course at Universidade Lusofona Discovering his own potential as a storyteller he realized that film education in Portugal wasnt enough for his ambitions In 2006 he decided to do a one month intensive course at the prestigious London Film Academy in the UK It was during this month that he decided to make Drops of a Soul After returning to Portugal NJ had only one thing in his mind to make a professional short film Only in December of 2007 his goal was reached Drops of a Soul was shot at the end of 2007 and it was shown for the first time in Lisbon on February 14th 2008 After making this short film NJ returned to the London Film Academy to undertake the one year course It was during this time that he directed two other short films Puny Earthlings his first ever comedy with Charlotte Coy and Marco Costa and Yael a World War II film starring Nadia Malamud and Steffan Boje