Films in the making in 2007 Vol. 1.

Coming soon! Coming. Coming?

1. György Szomjas: Nap utcai fiúk

Story: Another film about the events of 1956, but this time from a different perspective. At the centre of György Szomjas's work are 12 teenagers who seize 'Nap' cinema and heroically hold it against the Soviet tanks for twelve days.

Cast: Kata Gáspár, Sándor Czeczó, Péter Andorrai, János Bán, Sándor Gáspár, Rosic Djoko, András Szőke, Sándor Badár
Production: RF Produkcio

2. Zsolt Pozsgai: Csendkút

Story: Another 1956 story. Zsolt Pozsgai treats the short life of Attila Gérécz. The top athlete, sometimes referred to as the ”Petőfi of '56” languished in the prisons of Rákosi for six years. On 31 October the revolution freed him, and he rushed to the barricades immediately. He died a hero's death on 7 November.

Cast: Zoltán Hayth, Dóra Kakasy, Anna Kubik, György Dörner, László Sinkó
Budget: ca. 230 million forints
Production: Borbálafilm Ltd.


3. Róbert Lakatos: Bahrtalo!


Story: The creators are supplementing Róbert Lakatos's earlier 25-minute documentary to make it up to a feature film. We can follow the two main characters, Lóri and Lali, in their further clumsiness as they pursue the desired idea of ”the big deal”. 

Cast: Lóri and Lali
Production: Inforg Stúdió/Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion

4. Kornél Mundruczó: Delta

Story: Mihail comes home for his father's funeral. He meets his sister for the first time there and they fall in love. They learn that their father was killed by their mother and her lover. From then on their lives are defined by revenge. Kornél Mundruczó's new film will be based on Shakespeare's Hamlet and and Euripides' Electra.

Cast: Orsolya Tóth, Félix Lajkó, Lili Monori, Sándor Gáspár
Production: Proton Cinema, Filmpartners, Essential Filmproduktion
Budget: 1.5 million euros

Circumstances surrounding filming: On 10 July 2006 the original leading actor, Lajos Bertók died. This interrupted shooting for a time while a decision was being made about the fate of the film. There was already 45 minutes of useful material by then and the task of replacing the magnetic personality of Bertók seemed impossible. Based on the evidence of the press conference at the February Film Festival Félix Lajkó will be taking over the vacancy in the film. This decision resulted in other changes to preserve authenticity: the mother of the character played by Lajkó will not be Mari Kiss, but Lili Monori, and her on-screen lover will be played by Sándor Gáspár. The whole story had to be adapted to make it work with Lajkó, but the fundamental idea and essence of the film stayed the same, says Kornél Mundruczó.   

5. Szabolcs Tolnai: Fövenyóra

Story: The film is founded on the biographically inspired trilogy and other witings of Danilo Kis. The story follows a boy turning a man, trying to find his father and—in the course of his search—himself. But the process of the quest is depicted in the context of the labyrinth of elevated reality.

Cast: Rudolph Lars, Ádám Rajhona, Kati Lázár, János Derzsi, Jasna Zalica
Production: Mediawawe 2000 Ltd.
Budget: 100 million forints

Circumstances surrounding filming: Shooting originally planned for 40-45 days ended  up being almost a year long, and the budget shrunk to 100 million forints. This was due to the seperation of Serbia and Montenegro, and the ministry that was supposed to pay to the coproduction partner (Art and Popcorn) ceased to exist. Filming began in the winter of 2005 but could not be resumed as expected in April. During the summer new partners were  sought, and they also went to the MPPF for further funding. When the neccessary money was there they thought everything would go like a dream. They were dissappointed. As Serbia is not an EU member, red tape hindered the transport of props and equipment across the border. They missed this year's Festival, but if all goes well they will be done with post-production by the end of March. Should they succeed they would like to enter the film for the Cannes pre-selection.

6. Ferenc Török: Overnight

Story: Ferenc Török's new film takes audiences into the not everyday world of stock brokers. The main character, Péter Vas has just completed a so-called overnight transaction but something goes wrong. He has to make up for the lost money in a very short time. The film follows the events of a 24-hour day.
The film is expected to be premiered at the Titanic Film Festival.


Cast: Viktor Bodó, Ervin Nagy, Enikő Eszenyi, Gábor Máté
Production: Katapult Film/Filmpartners
Budget: 410 million forints


7. Gábor Dettre: Romazsaru

Story: We can follow a successful policeman investigating. The protagonist is a Roma cop with a legal degree—a real lone hero—who, while investigating a Roma perpetrator, learns of the malicious, destructive power of prejudice through his own experience.

Cast: Zoltán Mucsi, Piroska Molnár, Anna Györgyi, Lajos Kovács, Imre Csuja
Production: Új Budapest Filmstúdió
Budget: 200 million forints

Circumstances surrounding filming: This film has been in the making for seven years (including the preparatory phase). The multiple delays have several reasons. At first, organisational matters and the delayed arrival or lack of material means caused the biggest problems. They could not reach an agreement with Paprika Steen (she would have been in the lead female role). Shooting spanned several seasons which is likely to cause problems when various scenes will be edited. Then problems arose because of the length of the film: director Gábor Dettre did not want to go below the 2 hours 43 minutes after editing, but this way it could not premiere at the 38th Film Festival. Dettre was willing to compromise but the 150-minute version still could not be screened. Producer László Kántor said it would have frightened away audiences, and the half hour over the recommended 120 minutes that was left in made the costs of copies considerably higher. (The film was adapted to television as four one-hour parts because the creators felt the pictures were so powerful.)

8. György Balogh: Tüskevár

Story: A new adaptation of István Fekete's popular novel. At the centre is the story of two seventh grade students  who go to good old Matula for the summer and learn what it means to live on the marshes.

Cast: Lajos Kovács, Marcell Nagy, Enikő Détár, Péter Haumann, Judit Pogány
Production: Tamarafilm

 
Circumstances surrounding filming: Shooting for the film began April 2004, but due to financial resources drying up it had to stop in August 2005. Filming was able to resume a year later when the neccessary money was acquired. News came at the end of February that Tüskevár is in the sound editing stages. If no more hiccups occur, this unlucky piece of work can hit cinemas this September.

9. Erik Novák: Zuhanórepülés

Story: Sex, Love, Drugs, Violence, Money. Action drama–a fairytale from one of the least romantic corners of millennial Budapest, an urban legend of a young crook, a beautiful girl, loads of money, and the most  wretched adventure in life... However, on top of this—and also in spite of it—the film is biographically inspired. With the help of the director, scriptwriter Viktor Nagy created a story out of the elements of his own life that lead from a philosophy and theology university course ,through the drug underworld and all the way to prison. 

Cast: Zsolt Nagy, Vera Baranyai, Dorka Gryllus, János Derzsi, Andor Lukáts, Levente Törköly, Péter Kokics, Nóra Parti
Production: Megafilm
Budget: 220 million forints