Two Hungarian films at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival

It’s not the Time of my Life by Szabolcs Hajdu competes for the Crystal Globe, while Attila Till’s Kills on Wheels opens the East of the West programme on July 2, origo.hu reports. The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is the biggest film event in Central Europe.

Szabolcs Hajdu’s new film was chosen for the Official Selection of the festival. It’s not the Time of my Life (orig. Ernelláék Farkaséknál) is an adaptation of Hajdu’s play from last year. The film was made in makeshift conditions, filmed on an incredibly low, 2-3 million HUF budget in the director’s home, starring his wife, Orsolya Török-Illyés, and their children. The crew took turns cooking, and the cinematography was done by Hajdu’s students.

The film is a portrait of everyday life in today’s Hungary, as shown through the story of two families who are forced, by circumstance, to temporarily share an apartment. Hajdu’s name might be familiar from his film White Palms, which was also shown in Karlovy Vary 10 years ago.

The East of the West category, which features first and second films, opens on Thursday with Attila Till’s gangster film Kills on Wheels (orig. Tiszta szívvel). Till’s second feature film is an action-comedy about a two young men in wheelchairs who befriend a paralysed hitman and form a gang. The film opens to an international audience for the first time in Karlovy Vary.

It’s not the Time of My Life is the fourth film in three years to be chosen for the Official Selection. In 2013, János Szász’s The Notebook won the Crystal Globe, a year later György Pálfi won the award for best director for his film Free Fall.

Likewise, the East of the West category featured many Hungarian films in past years. In 2014, Virág Zomborácz’s Afterlife, and Gábor Reisz’s For Some Inexplicable Reason premiered in Karlovy Vary, so did Zero by Gyula Nemes in 2015, as well as Horváth Lili’s Wednesday Child, which won the grand prize of the category.

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Source: origo.hu