SILVER AND GOLD
DIRECTED BY JACK PULFORD
UNITED KINGDOM // 2021
10 MINS
A living statue waits for someone to notice her. When a potential rival teaches her to move she finds a real connection.
Reflective Encounters
“Queer people don’t have many classic films to identify themselves in, but Jack Pulford’s Silver and Gold offers us our own silent comedy. It’s a stunning update on a Charlie Chaplin short - a Southbank human statue in a silver suit and bowler hat falls for the beautiful golden lady on the other side of the path.
Silver and Gold invites us to focus on the gestures of romance, specifically the silent language of queerness and lesbian sexuality. Set just outside the Tate Modern in London, it’s a modern urban tale that feels seeped in the typically heterosexual history of cinema. The camera closes on the women’s eyes, their hands and feet as they mimic each other’s routines before finally falling into a whirlwind dance across the city.
Chaplin’s Little Tramp never spoke so that his character could transcend national borders. The silence of Silver and Gold feels similarly universal, and asks us to question why there isn’t a richer tradition of queer romance in cinema that doesn’t need to focus on processes of coming out or conflict. The resulting elegance of the film will stay with you long after the credits, and hopefully heralds a new golden age of queer cinema.”
— Lillian Crawford
Filmmaker Q&A
A Q&A with filmmakers from the This Is Me programme at Encounters Film Festival 2021.
Filmmakers - Ruicheng Liang (Man Up In Lockdown), Lissi Simpson (Mexed), Eilidh Nicoll (Silvering), Arlo O'Callaghan - director and Camy Jaimes - cinematographer (Owen), Laura Jayne Tunbridge (Dragged Up) and Jack Pulford (Silver and Gold).
Hosted by Ren Scateni, Encounters Head of Programme.
Director’s Statement
‘Silver and Gold’ is about breaking away from your normal behaviour to pursue something you’ve long been looking for. All her life, Silver has stood in the same place hoping someone would notice her, but she soon finds out that if she wants something she also has to fight for it.
The film has the backdrop of tourist hot-spots in London which play off the living statue characters who perform for tourists who visit. Growing up, I regularly visited London, and living statues always fascinated me.
After researching, I found that living statues have never had their own film, so with ‘Silver and Gold’ I was keen to display their work as an artistic way of communication that would make audiences think about who these performers are.
The short film was heavily inspired by the short films created by Pixar Animation, whose animations explore interesting character-studies, coupled with an emotive soundtrack. The way in which these films take their audience on the same journey as their characters was a massive inspiration for ‘Silver and Gold’.
Along with this, the classic ‘boy meets girl’ (or in this case girl meets girl) storyline allowed for a heartwarming short viewing experience. The film fits into the LGBTQ+ genre as it tells the story of the relationship between two females. But the intention of having the characters as homosexual was to not draw attention to it. The sexuality of the two characters isn’t their conflict and that was important when making the film.
We wanted the theme to sit comfortably within the narrative and be more about the love of two people that develops, rather than their gender being their defining characteristics. Throughout the film, we see Silver going through the journey from complete isolation to a genuine connection, and we wanted a heightened style to play along with that.
From the close-ups in the performances to the grandness of the locations and the energy that is created by the soundtrack, the cast and crew were keen to make it seem grandiose and melodramatic to spotlight the emotional development of the character.
The film was shot just before the first national lockdown in the United Kingdom, so the Post-Production process was the perfect aid to getting me through the remaining months of 2020. ‘Silver and Gold’ is about coming together and moving forward in an exciting and supportive manner. I hope that this film will bring some positivity to audiences during this current global situation.
Filmmaker Bio
Jack is a young, up and coming, film director with a passion to tell stories visually. Jack fell in love with filmmaking in his mid-teens, which he pursued further at the University of the Arts London.
Within his studies, Jack developed an understanding of narrative storytelling within film and television, to ultimately finish his studies by writing, directing, and editing his short film ‘Silver and Gold’, which is currently on the festival circuit.
After his studies, Jack has continued to write and direct his own short films, with one is currently in post-production, and set to be finished by the end of the year.