Gold And Silver

 

The film Gold and Silver is the record of a trip by the artist's father, Andrzej Rajkowski, to places linked to their family history. The tale is based around the remembering of former fortunes, alternately gained and lost through the passion for gambling shared by the majority of men in the family. The protagonist visits Plac Konstytucji, where the family home once stood (destroyed during the War), also housing a dentist's surgery and a card den run by an uncle; the Hotel Bristol, a place of recreation in former times; and Żyrardów, where his family's possessions were concealed. Equipped with a metal detector and a spade, he searches in the environs of Żyrardów for traces of a case in which the family buried their valuables during the War. In his recollections, in his tales of the tragic-comic events of the past, history, war and changes of political system notwithstanding, appear as so many unfortunate twists of fate, like losing at cards.

project:
Joanna Rajkowska
camerawork:
Leszek Molski
Rafał Żurek
editing:
Marek Sobolewski
Joanna Rajkowska
music:
Marcin Dymiter
sound:
Justyna Musialska
colour correction:
Leszek Molski
english translation:
Benjamin Cope
production:
Zachęta National Gallery of Art
Special thanks to the hotel Le Meridien Bristol and the shop Militaria.pl in Warsaw for their help in producing this film.
Warszawa 2008