Olympic gymnasts in White Palms
Shooting has finished in Budapest for Fehér tenyér (White Palms), the third feature film of Hungarian filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu. Creator of the well-received Sticky Matters (2001 - best first film at the Hungarian Film Week) and Tamara (2004), the young filmmaker this time takes on the world of gymnastics with a cast that includes the Canadian Olympic champion b>Kyle Shewfelt who won the floor gold medal at the Athens games.
Inspired by the life of his young brother Zoltán Miklós Hajdu who plays himself in the film and who performs with the famous Cirque du Soleil at Las Vegas, Szabolcs Hajdu retraces the steps of a Hungarian gymnast (Dongo) who becomes the trainer of a young Canadian (Orion) and helps her reach the summit. The screenplay offers the possibility of exploring various aspects of sociology, notably the relationship between parents and children, the sporting education from the East applied to a young athlete from the West and also the need to find proper values to escape the pressure from both trainers and families.
After two weeks in Calgary and in Las Vegas in April, the shooting (six weeks in total) arrived at Budapest for the re-enactment of the games at Debrecen (November 2002), scenes which required a stadium full of people. Produced by Iván Angelusz, Ágnes Pataki and Péter Reich for Katapult Film and Filmpartners, White Palms benefited from a Canadian-American co-production. While still in post-production, it should be screened in February 2006 during the Hungarian Film Week. Distribution rights were acquired by Budapest Film who committed themselves before the shoot ended, very rare in Hungary.
(Translated from French)
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