04/06/2024 - Next year, the Hungarian filmmaker will shoot a film about the friendship between Simon Arshaki Ter-Petrosyan and the man who would go on to become Joseph Stalin, staged by Good Chaos and Hype Studio

Director Kornél Mundruczó (© Viktória Petrányi)

In 2025, Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó will shoot his ninth feature, a Georgian-language film titled The Revolution According to Kamo, boasting an original screenplay by Pawel Pawlikowski and Ben Hopkins, which has been adapted by Kata Weber (who has collaborated with Mundruczó on his last four films).

The director, who won the Silver Leopard at Locarno in 2002 with Pleasant Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile], has been in the Official Selection at Cannes six times: he was in competition in 2008 with Delta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó
interview: Orsi Tóth
film profile], in 2010 with Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and in 2017 with Jupiter’s Moon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó
film profile]; in Un Certain Regard in 2005 with Johanna [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and in 2014 with White God [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó
film profile]; and in Cannes Première in 2021 with Evolution [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó and Kata W…
film profile]. He also took part in the Venice competition in 2020 (winning the Best Actress Award to boot) with the English-language movie Pieces of a Woman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó and Kata W…
film profile].

The story of The Revolution According to Kamo spans 30 years, from 1891-1922, and paints the portrait of the birth of the world’s most murderous dictator through the eyes of his best friend, ally, devoted disciple and henchman. The two grew up together in the small town of Gori, close to Tblisi – Stalin, or Soso as he was then known, in extreme poverty, and Kamo as part of a wealthy merchant family. Although Soso leaves Gori to attend a seminary, the two are reunited in their late teens in Tiflis (modern-day Tbilisi), where the charismatic Soso has become an agitator and leader in the new revolutionary movement to bring down the monarchy. Kamo is dragged alongside Soso into a world of gangland violence, murder and social upheaval.

“It’s an epic movie about history, but it also sits firmly in the gangster-movie genre,” said Mundruczo. “It’s less about a man being born evil, but about the mechanics of power and how one man rises to the top. But it’s also about a passionate friendship between these two men who knew each other since they were boys.”

“I was attracted to the script not only because I had never worked on an epic story of this scale before, but also because we see one of the most brutal periods in history from the perspective of a true friend and comrade,” adds Kata Weber. “Rather than a biopic, the story presents a unique perspective in which we can see how power structures can corrupt even the purest of emotions. Kamo's story is a tale of friendship, sacrifice and betrayal alongside the criminal history of a revolutionary movement that may be unfamiliar to many.”

The Revolution According to Kamo will be produced by UK outfit Good Chaos and France’s Hype Studios together with MK Productions (France), Komplizen Film (Germany), Madants (Poland), Proton Cinema (Hungary) and Takes Film (Georgia).

(Translated from French)