HNNF World Sales springs into action in Cannes
- The international sales division of the Hungarian National Film Fund looks to get ahead of the game, taking 16 films in post-production to Cannes, seven of which are feature film debuts
And they’re off at the Marché du Film of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival (running 14 to 25 May), where the international sales team of the HNFF (Hungarian National Film Fund) - steered by Klaudia Androsovits – is set to negotiate on behalf of 16 titles in post-production, including seven first feature films (four of which were supported by the Film Fund’s Incubator programme).
This year on the Croisette, Hungarian cinema will see itself represented in just one window of the Festival: the Cannes Classics line-up, where the original, uncensored version of Péter Bacsó’s work The Witness (1969) is set to screen, restored in 4K. But the future is full of promise and HNFF World Sales will be using the Marché du Film to pre-sell, among others, Márk Bodzsár’s black comedy Comrade Draculich [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Márk Bodzsár
film profile], Nóra Lakos’ romantic comedy Cream (her first full-length film), Ágnes Kocsis’ eagerly awaited work Eden [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and the no less intriguing social drama by István Szabó, Final Report [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: István Szabó
film profile].
Standing tall on the Film Fund’s shelf of first feature films in post-production, meanwhile, is FOMO: Fear of Missing Out [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Attila Hartung, as well as Zoltán Nagy’s On the Quiet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zoltán Nagy
film profile].
Pre-sales will likewise press ahead for the documentary Liquid Gold by Tamás Almási (produced by Julianna Ugrin – a European Film Promotion Producer on the Move 2019 – read our interview), which follows in the footsteps of three men who are fighting to return to its former glory the famous white wine Tokay d’Aszu, once prized by Louis XIV, Queen Victoria, Goethe and even Beethoven).
On the documentary side of things, stand-out titles include Tales From the Prison Cell by Ábel Visky (a Proton Cinema production, exploring the relationships between fathers in prison and the children they leave behind - article), Tamas Barta, The Legend by Eszter Hajdú (revolving around the biggest Hungarian rock guitarist of the 1970s who left for the US in 1974 and who met with a mysterious end in 1982) and Colors of Tobi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexa Bakony
film profile] by Alexa Bakony (which homes in on a family who must face up to their daughter’s desire for a sex change).
Last but not least amongst this wave of post-production pictures, Dénes Orosz’s romantic comedy Seveled [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is worthy of a mention, as are the dramas Seven Small Coincidences [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Péther Gothár, Those Who Remained [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Barnabás Tóth and Spiral [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Cecília Felméri, along with the thrillers Tall Tales by Attila Szász (article) and Valan by Béla Bagota (article).
The HNFF will also press ahead with the sale of several finished films, including Bad Poems [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Gábor Reisz, X–The Exploited [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Karoly Ujj Meszaros and His Master’s Voice [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by György Pálfi, without forgetting the documentary by Árpád Bogdán, Ghetto Balboa [+see also:
trailer
interview: Árpád Bogdán
film profile].
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