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PRODUCTION Hungary

Szabolcs Hajdu films his modern Western Mirage

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- Isaach de Bankolé stars as an African footballer grappling with slavery in the depths of the Hungarian countryside

Revealed with Sticky Matters (Best Hungarian First Film in 2001) and appreciated in Cannes and Berlin with White Palms [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Szabolcs Hajdu
film profile
]
 (Directors’ Fortnight 2006) and Bibliothèque Pascal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Szabolcs Hajdu - director
interview: Szabolcs Hajdu
film profile
]
 (Forum of the Berlinale 2010), Szabolcs Hajdu has been shooting his 5th feature film since June 12th: Mirage.

The cast of this modern Western features Ivorian actor Isaach de Bankolé (Manderlay [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Casino Royale [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Romanian actor Razvan Vasilescu (notably appreciated in 2007 in Un Certain Regard in Cannes in California Dreamin’ [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, seen in Je t'aime, moi non plus [+see also:
trailer
Interview with Joann Sfar, director of…
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
film profile
]
and already topping the bill in Bibliothèque Pascal), his compatriot Orsolya Török-Illyés (who has played in all the director’s feature films), Dragos Bucur and Tamas Polgar.

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Written by the director, Jim Stark and Nandor Lovas, the screenplay of Mirage relates the mishaps of an African football player in a small Hungarian town. He takes refuge in a farm in the depths of the countryside but soon realizes that it is a slave camp where he will have to fight for his freedom and finally for his life.

Produced by Andrea Taschler (Producer on the Move 2013 of European Film promotion – read the interview) for Mirage Film Studio and Gabor Kovacs for FilmPartners, the feature film is coproduced by the Slovakian company MPhfilms (Matthias Prikler) in Slovakia. Other coproducers notably include Agi Pataki, Jim Stark, Judit Romwalter and Monica Mecs.

Filming will end on August 5th and Andras Nagy will be handling the cinematography. The film should be ready in January 2014 and released on Magyar screens in September of the same year. The Hungarian National Film Fund which funded the film up to 1.04 M€ (out of a total budget of 1.18 M€) is handling the international sales.


Photo - Lenke Szilagyi

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(Translated from French)

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