Family Fortunes
Mila Turajlić / Serbia & United States / 2022 / 11 min
A tray. A chandelier. A full tea set – matching saucers and sugar bowl included. Many napkin rings. Spoons, forks. Everything engraved with names, initials, important dates in the life of their long-gone owners. This whole collection of silver objects, gathered throughout the years, has survived wars, revolutions, displacement, exile, to eventually end up displayed behind the doors of a glass cabinet. Like memories, silver plates tarnish with time. Once in a while, one must take them out of the cabinet and rub them. Serbian director Mila Turajlić joins her mother in her ritual cleaning of the family silverware and, while methodically polishing each item, feels her ancestors emerge from the past, like genies from a lamp.