Alain Silver holds degrees in film from UCLA and is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America. He has been an assistant director and production manager on numerous studio projects and an independent feature producer whose 30-plus credits include Cyborg 2, Beat, and Crashing. He has lectured on topics that range from film production to film noir and has moderated and participated in panels for the American Film Institute, Slamdance, Cinequest, the LA Film Festival, and UCLA Extension. As an expert on noir, Raymond Chandler, as well as vampire films and directors David Lean, and Robert Aldrich, he has appeared on-camera for the BBC, Starz, Channel Four UK, E!, KCET, American Movie Classics, the Sci-fi Channel, CBC/Ontario, and ARD and done a couple dozen audio commentaries and essays for DVD releases from Criterion, Warner Bros. and 20th Century-Fox James Ursini holds degrees in theater and film from UCLA and has written and/or co-written (many with Alain Silver) numerous books, including The Noir Style, Film Noir, Film Noir: The Directors, Film Noir Reader, Film Noir Light and Shadow, Film Noir Prototypes, The Fabulous Life and Times of Preston Sturges, Directors on the Edge, The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen, and Cinema of Obsession: Erotic Fixation and Love Gone Wrong in the Movies. Ursini has also written for various film magazines and supplied the commentary for numerous classic film noir DVDs. He lectures on filmmaking in the Los Angeles area.
