Archives reveal a Dear Betrayed Friend

by Fabien Lemercier

29/03/2012 - He discovered talents like Ágnes Kocsis (Fresh Air [trailer] and Adrienn Pal [trailer, film focus]) or Attila Gigor (The Investigator), and now KMH Film producer Ferenc Pusztai (Producer on the Move 2007 of the European Film Promotion) is launching another new director into the world of feature film: Sára Cserhalmi with Dear Betrayed Friend ( Drága besúgott barátom), released today in Hungarian cinemas by Vertigo Media. The film stars two of Hungary’s most famous actors: János Derzsi (The Turin Horse [trailer, film focus]) and György Cserhalmi (Zelary [trailer], Control [trailer]). By their side, other notable actors include Anna Györgyi, Miklós Benedek, and Zoltán Schneider.

Written by the director with Paizs Miklós, the screenplay features sixty-year-old-plus Andor Czettl (György Cserhalmi) going to the archives after the regime change to read the reports written during the time of the Eastern Bloc. There he discovers something shocking: that his best friend János Pásztor (János Derzsi) was an informer and spied on him for decades. It’s a promising intrigue that allows the film both to explore the ambiguous corners of a friendship and to provoke thought on a very sensitive topic in Hungary’s recent, yest still misty, past.

Produced by Ferenc Pusztai for KMH Film and by the duo Judith Csernai - Iván Márk for I'm Film, Dear Betrayed Friend was co-produced by Rebekka Garrido by German production company The Post Republic and by Miklos Bosnyak (Szinhaz- es Filmmuveszeti Egyetem).

(Translated from French)