09/06/2015 - The project for the second feature film of Hungarian filmmaker Gábor Reisz has been selected for the development and financing platform organised in Paris

The 2^nd edition of the Paris Coproduction Village kicks off tomorrow and will be held for the next three days in the French capital. Set up by the Les Arcs European Film Festival and the Champs-Elysées Festival (the 4^th edition of which will be held from 10 to 16 June 2015), the development and financing platform will present its 14 selected film projects (see news item) along with the six current residents of the Cannes Film Festival Cinéfondation, one of whom is Hungarian director Gábor Reisz with his project for his second feature film Bad Poems (Rossz versek).

The first opus of Gábor Reisz, For Some Inexplicable Reason [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see review), was unveiled last year at Karlovy Vary, and went on to pick up awards at a number of other festivals (most notably the Special Jury Prize and Audience Award at Turin) and be a box office hit in its own country. 

Written by the director, the screenplay for Bad Poems centres around Tamas, a 23 year-old water polo player, or at least that’s how he would introduce himself if anyone were to take an interest. In actual fact, he’s just a daydreamer who makes a living as a swimming instructor and only plays in the third division with teammates whose glory days are over. One day, he meets Anna, a married woman 20 years his senior, who turns his life upside down. In return for Tamas’ help in a robbery, this well-known and influential woman arranges for him to try out for the national team. A predicament which awakens the conscience of the young man, an unremarkable individual whose life has been guided up until then by illusions of victory. But there comes a point where he must decide if life really is just made up of winners and losers. 

The filmmaker, who played water polo for 12 years without ever winning anything, explains in his project note that he has always wondered whether or not he should view this part of his life as a failure. "Sometimes, fate draws a line between winners and losers with frightening precision. I noticed that even if I clearly understood to what extent all that was relative, those around me were incapable of accepting defeat". On the character of Tamas, Reisz points out that he still lives with his parents, who played a major role in his decision to try to become a top athlete and unconsciously kept him under pressure. "The tragicness of the character is so obvious that it is important to tell the story through comedy, and the film will swing between Tamas’ dream and a sobering reality, giving food for thought." 

Bad Poems is being produced by Julia Berkes for Proton Cinema.

(Translated from French)