SILVER

When Leonor is forced to come home from London after the sudden death of her father, she arrives in Gijón, Spain, to find her mother on the verge of eviction from their small apartment. The two use their wiles to scheme their way into maintaining a lifestyle they think they deserve with promises of paying for dresses the following month and buying then returning cute shoes as they hop from shop to shop in their best furs. Soon, they find their grifts drying up and people starting to catch onto their cons, which tests their growing but complicated filial bond. The debut feature from Argentine writer, director and producer Amalia Ulman (who also stars in the lead role) is a dry, dark comedy that tackles poverty in contemporary Spain while examining the delicate balance of the mother-daughter relationship. Filmed on location in Gijón, it borrows heavily from Ulman's own personal life as someone who grew up in the small coastal town, living in poverty off and on with her own mother, who plays her on-screen mom here, in her film debut. Winner, Best Director, 2021 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema. Official Selection, 2021 Sundance and New Directors New Films film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Amalia Ulman; PROD Kathleen Heffernan, Kweku Mandela. Spain/U.S., 2021, b&w, 79 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

No AFI Member passes accepted.