European Films

 

Since the start of the 21st century, Hungarian film has been on the move in ways that suggest both a return to its heydays and a new and exciting direction altogether. In order to navigate the enormous mass of films produced in recent years, european-films.net asked several experts in the field which recent Hungarian film they would recommend, and which upcoming Hungarian project they are most looking forward to. Today, French film journalist Fabien Lemercier, who covers French and Hungarian cinema for Cineuropa and who recently wrote about the Hungarian blitz on the Cannes Croisette, discusses his two choices: Johanna and Overnight.

Which recent Hungarian film would you recommend?
I would recommend Johanna, Kornél Mundruczo’s second feature film. After his first, the multiple award-winning Szép Napok (Pleasant Days) which won the Silver Leopard at Locarno in 2002, Mundruczo reteams with his favourite actress Orsolya Tóth (Best Actress winner at the Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers in 2004) and directs an amazing modern adaptation of the life of Jeanne d’Arc, translated into contemporary opera. The film was part of the Cannes section Un Certain Regard in 2005 and is a fascinating and relentless exploration of the human soul (“l'âme humaine”), filmed with a deft hand.

 

Entirely sung in Hungarian, the film aimed at cinephiles was made by the 31-year-old director who, with director György Palfi (2006’s Taxidermia) are part of Hungarian cinema's the avant-garde, with other not less radical filmmakers of their generation including Benedek Fliegauf (2004’s Dealer), Nimród Antal (Kontroll), Roland Vranik (Fekete Kefe/Black Brush, from 2005) and Szabolcs Hajdu (Fehér tenyér/White Palms).  

 

Which upcoming Hungarian film are you most looking forward to?
Overnight, from promising young director Ferenc Török. This third feature film from the 35-year-old filmmaker is the closing chapter of a trilogy that started with 2001’s Moszkva tér (Moscow Square) and continued with Szezon - Summer Time (Eastern Sugar) from 2004, with as a continuous theme the Hungarian generation that grew up in the period of the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc. Overnight will be about a famous broker from Budapest whose private and professional life will suddenly come under close scrutiny.

 

The project is produced by Ivan Angelusz for Katapult Film, the Hungarian production company that also produced, amongst others, Fehér tenyér (White Palms) from Szabolcs Hajdu, which is this year’s Hungarian Foreign Language Oscar submission. The company was founded by eight young filmmakers and two editors who all came from the College of Film and Theatre Arts. Some of Hungary’s most important upcoming talents are part of its team: Dániel Erdélyi, Gábor Fischer, Diana Groó and György Pálfi (Taxidermia).