15/09/2006

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Budapest uprising of October 1956, which led to the intervention of Soviet troops, HungariCom released Mansfeld by Andor Szilágyi on Hungarian screens yesterday.

Starring Péter Fancsikai (the star of Fateless [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Maia Morgenstern (The Passion of the Christ), Gergo Bárdi, Bálint Egri, Zsolt Dér, Csaba Pindroch and Dani Szabó, the film recounts the tragic destiny of Peter Mansfeld (Fancsikai), a charismatic 16 year-old and leader of a group of young idealists outraged by the events of 1956 and revolted by the reign of terror that followed in Budapest.

This revolutionary romanticism leads the group to make an arms hideout, while carrying out actions that are more like schoolboy pranks than something done by their peers. The kidnapping of a police officer soon leads to their arrest. Imprisioned and tortured despite the efforts of Peter’s mother (Morgenstern) to save them, the young group is accused of high treason and Mansfeld is killed ten days after his 18th birthday, becoming a symbol in Hungarians' struggle for freedom.

Produced by Jeno Habermann for the Hungarian outfit Filmart Kft with Canada's 21st Century DreamQuest Films and in association with Hungary’s ProsperoFilm, Mansfeld – co-scripted by the director and Zoltan Furedi (also the Canadian producer) – carried a €3.5m budget.

This is the second feature by novelist-playwright Szilágyi. His first film, Rose’s Songs (also starring Romanian actress Morgenstern), won him a Special Mention at the 2003 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

(Translated from French)