''Silver City'' is a 1984 Australian film about post-war

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

immigration to Australia The Australian continent was first settled when ancestors of Indigenous Australians arrived via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea over 50,000 years ago. European colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of a B ...

, following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. "Silver City" is the nickname of the immigration hostel in Australia.

David Stratton David James Stratton (born 10 September 1939) is an English-Australian award-winning film critic, as both a journalist and interviewer, film historian and lecturer and television personality and producer. Life and career Born in Trowbridge, ...

calls it one of the best Australian films of the 1980s and thought that it should have made

Gosia Dobrowolska Małgorzata Dobrowolska (born 2 June 1958, in Kamienna Góra Kamienna Góra (german: Landeshut, cs, Lanžhot or Kamenná Hora, szl, Kamiynnŏ Gōra) is a town in south-western Poland with 19,010 inhabitants (2019). It is the seat of Kami ...

a major star.

Cast

as "Nina" *

Ivar Kants Ivar Kants (born 19 July 1949) (commonly credited as ''Ivor'' Kants or Ivar Kanz) is an Australian actor of Latvian descent who has played numerous roles in soap operas including ''A Country Practice'', '' G.P.'', '' All Saints'', '' Water Rats ...

as "Julian" * Anna Jemison as "Anna" *

Steve Bisley Steve Bisley (born 26 December 1951) is an Australian writer, film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' Mad Max'' and ''The Great Gatsby''. On TV, some of his better-known roles include Detective Sergeant Jack C ...

as "Victor" *

Debra Lawrance Debra Lawrance (born 1 January 1957) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role on '' Home and Away'', as Pippa Ross, which she played from 1990 to 1998, and has made a number of return appearances as the character, the most re ...

as "Helena" * Ewa Bok as "Mrs. Bronowska" * Dennis Miller as "Max" *

Alan Cinis Alan Cinis (born 10 August 1960 in Orange, New South Wales), an Australian politician and actor, has served as a Councillor on Leichhardt Council, Sydney, New South Wales, representing the NSW Greens since 2008. As an actor, Cinis has starred ...

as "Charlie"

Production

Sophia Turkiewicz had long been interested in making a film about post war migrants to Australia. She attended the Australian Film and Television School in Sydney where she made a short drama ''Letters from Poland'' about a Polish refugee. She started writing the film in 1978 while studying in Poland, originally concentrating on a ship full of Polish refugees going to Australia, then focusing on what happened when they arrived.Christine Cremen, "Sophia Turkiewicz", ''Cinema Papers, August 1984 p237-239, 287 She sent an outline to

Joan Long Joan Long (born Joan Dorothy Boundy; 20 July 1925 – 2 January 1999) was an Australian producer, writer and director best known for '' Caddie'' (1976). She was awarded as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1980 for her services to the film ...

who agreed to produce. After Turkiewicz did five drafts, Long then suggested a co-writer be brought on board and

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, wh ...

- who had visited Poland as part of his research for ''Schindler's Ark'' - became involved. During the early 1980s Long and Turkiewicz became frustrated at the progress of getting up the film and for a time developed another project, ''Time's Raging'' based on stories by

Frank Moorhouse Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer. He won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, ...

but eventually went back to ''Silver City''. The Money was eventually raised through 10BA tax concessions.

, who had newly arrived in Australia, auditioned for the lead and impressed despite not knowing any English. However she struggled at a reading of the script and the role was given to Megan Williams instead. Then there was a delay in financing which put the film back a year. Dobrowolska improved her English and impressed the director and producer in a play she was appearing in; Williams was let go and Dobrowolska was cast. (Williams later sued and the matter settled out of court.)

Andrzej Seweryn Andrzej Teodor Seweryn (born 25 April 1946) is a Polish actor and director. One of the most successful Polish theatre actors, he starred in over 50 films, mostly in Poland, France and Germany. He is also one of only three non-French actors to ...

and

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...

were candidates to play the male lead before Ivar Kants was cast. Shooting began in October 1983 and went for seven weeks.

Awards

* Sydney Critic's Circle award for Best Feature Film of the year . *

AFI award The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsi ...

–

for Best Supporting Actor * AFI award –

Anna Maria Monticelli Anna Maria Monticelli is an Australian actress, screenwriter and producer. Monticelli won the 1994 AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in '' Silver City''. In 2001 she was nominated for the AFI Award for Best Original ...

for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. * AFI award – for Costume Design

Box office

''Silver City'' grossed $197,839 at the box office in Australia,''Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office''
/ref> which is equivalent to $502,003 in 2009 dollars.

Novelization

Concurrent with the release of the film,

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

issued a paperback novelization of the screenplay by American-Australian novelist Sara Dowse. The book was distributed in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and North America.

References

External links

*
''New York Times'' review of ''Silver City''''Silver City''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Silver City (1984 Film) 1984 films Australian drama films 1984 drama films 1980s English-language films