''Silver City'' is a 1984 Australian film about post-war Polish
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 ...
, 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 opposing ...
. "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 a major star.
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 as "Helena"
* Ewa Bok as "Mrs. Bronowska"
* Dennis Miller as "Max"
* Alan Cinis 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 - 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.Gosia Dobrowolska, 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.
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 ...
for Best Supporting Actor
* AFI award – Anna Maria Monticelli for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
* AFI award – for Costume Design
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British 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 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
Further reading
* "''The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia – Theatre . Film . Radio . Television – Volume 1''" – Ann Atkinson, Linsay Knight, Margaret McPhee – Allen & Unwin Pty. Ltd., 1996
* "''The Australian Film and Television Companion''" – compiled by Tony Harrison – Simon & Schuster Australia, 1994