22/08/2006

After a 20-year absence, young Hungarian cinema will make its big comeback in the Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival (August 30-September 9), with My One and Onlies (Egyetleneim), the debut feature by Gyula Nemes.

Starring Krisztián Kovács, Orsi Tóth, Ágnes Kovalik, Ági Szép, Eszter Tompa and Kata Nemes Takách, the film, made in the style of The Man Who Loved Women, follows the frenetic amorous conquests of a 24 year-old seducer who criss-crosses the streets of Budapest to meet several lovers. But this almost burlesque search also takes place against the backdrop of sentimental drama, with the birth and the death of a great love.

The 32-year old director (who wrote the script with Tamás Beregi and László Garaczi) made these two stories parallel to several visual experiments, going from a documentary hand-held style to still shots, from black and white to colour, acceleration to brutal deceleration with little dialogue in the chatting up scenes on the street to calmer and more lyrical moments, to tell a tale of a great love.

"I would have preferred to create visual effects comparable to those in electronic music, with its countless loops, scratches and mixes, but this would have cost a fortune,” said Nemes, whose film has nonetheless been judged a virtuoso piece by critics.

The film that adds yet another name to the already impressive list of talented directors of young Hungarian cinema in the spotlight at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival (see Special Report: Hungarian Blitz on the Croisette).

Produced by Mediawave 2000 Ltd., My One and Onlies is the graduation film by Nemes who studied at the well-known Famu Prague Film School.

Backed by Magyar Mozgókép Közalapítvány, Nemzeti Kulturális Alapprogram and Duna Televízió, the feature has already won Tóth (Johanna [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) a Best Actress award at this year’s Hungarian Film Week and opens in Hungarian theatres on August 31 (dist. Budapest Film).

(Translated from French)