The American breakthrough of a Hungarian movie about modern age slavery

The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its entire feature program that is going to be set to screen between 18-28 January, 2018. As hvg.hu and 24.hu report, a Hungarian movie is also among the chosen films at one of the most prestigious film festivals. Hungary is again among the best.

The Hungarian documentary, A Woman Captured, is the story of Bernadett Tuza-Ritter that features among the foreign documentaries in the programme of the Sundance Film Festival. The film premiered at the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) and now it is also on the official list of the competing films at the Sundance Film Festival.

What is the movie about?

A Woman Captured represents a segment of the world which is unknown to many, although we do not have to go far to meet it. The documentary follows the life of a woman kept in slavery who, despite her hopeless situation, chooses to break out of the physical and mental oppression after 10 years of service. She wants to regain her freedom and start a new life with her daughter.

Based on the research conducted by the director, the problem of the modern age slavery affects around 22,000 people in Hungary, while the number of those involved may reach 1,000,000 in Europe.

The director reveals that we do not even know about the lives and the circumstances of people living next door to us. The film shows the desperate situation of the protagonist from such a close angle, that it provides a possibility for the audience to identify themselves with her.

The poster of the film /facebook/A Woman Captured/

The director also admitted that the idea of the film comes from an exam exercise, where they had to make a 5 minute-long movie about a day of a person. Bernadett Tuza-Ritter knew the family where the protagonist served as a slave and asked for their permission to record her film there.

Since she did not want to reveal the identity of the family, she only focused on the main character, and thus, the housewife agreed upon it.

Later on, however, when she wanted to continue the shooting, the housewife demanded money for it, so she paid her. In fact, the director shares this information as well, among other things related to it, with the audience of the movie.

Bernadett Tuza-Ritter made the movie all alone, and because of the sensitiveness of the issue, it was out of question to use a larger crew. As a consequence, she was the one who recorded the image and the sound as well, during the whole work process that lasted for 1.5 years. The relationship she developed with her protagonist was built upon trust, as she reports.

The director (on the right) and the producers at the world premiere of A WOMAN CAPTURED at IDFA 2017 /facebook/A Woman Captured/

Once, when she was welcomed by the lady, who was enthusiastic about her arrival, she became sure that she has a task with this film. Furthermore, shooting was also a tool for the director to stay close to her protagonist and support her, no matter how she decides. As she remembers, she could not make the decision instead of her, but she wanted to help her after she had made up her mind.

The trailer

The Sundance festival

There are 3 more Hungary-related films debuting at the festival:

• Assassination Nation – Marcell Rév is the cameraman of this thriller
• 306 Hollywood – Judit Stalter is the producer of this magic-realistic movie (Kills on Wheels, Son of Saul)
• Colette – the film was shot in Hungary with the actress Keira Knightley

Good luck for all of the movies involved in the festival. We hope that in January, we can be thrilled again thanks to subsequent Hungarian successes. 🙂

Feature image: facebook/A Woman Captured

Source: 24.hu; hvg.hu