07/03/2008

Adapted from the story “One Human Minute” by celebrated Polish science-fiction writer Stanislaw Lem (who died in 2006 and wrote Solaris which inspired both Andrei Tarkovski and Steven Soderbergh), Zoltán Verebes’s Hungarian feature 1 is arousing curiosity.

Currently in post-production, the film – which stars Lazlo Sinko, Pal Macsai, Zoltan Mucsi and Vica Kerekes – is set to wrap up in May.

Co-written by the director, the writer and Judit Góczán, the film’s action unfolds in the 21st century, somewhere in Eastern Europe. A bookshop renowned for its rare works is mysteriously and completely filled with copies of a book entitled 1, which doesn’t appear to have a publisher or author.

The strange almanac describes what happens to the whole of humanity in the space of a minute. A police investigation begins and the bookshop staff are placed in solitary confinement by the Bureau for Paranormal Research (RDI Reality Defense Institute).

As the investigation progresses, the situation becomes more complex and the book increasingly well known, raising numerous controversies (political, scientific, religious and artistic). Plagued by doubts, the protagonist has to face facts: reality only exists in the imagination of individuals.

This is the debut feature by a filmmaker also known by the pseudonym of Pater Sparrow, who attracted attention in Hungary with his film shorts, before going on to study at the London Film School.

The film is produced by Andras Toth for Honeymood Films.

(Translated from French)