Heavenly Shift: at the heart of human organ trafficking

by Fabien Lemercier

16/08/2012 - The last preparations are being made before shooting kicks off at the end of August for Heavenly Shift, Márk Bodzsár (photo)’s feature debut about human organ trafficking. The film is to feature performances by András Ötvös, Roland Rába, and Tamás Keresztes.

Written by the filmmaker (who directed a segment of East Side Stories), the film’s screenplay is set at the beginning of the 199os. Milán, aged around 20, is a young refugee who has escaped the war in the Balkans and works the night shift on an ambulance in Budapest. His colleagues, the doctor and driver, make money from selling dead bodies to an entrepreneur, and soon they involve him in illegal euthanasia. Milán needs money to help his fiancée escape from Sarajevo. As he gains experience, he discovers the different sides of death and crime.

Produced by István Bodzsár for Unio Film, Heavenly Shift is to be made on a budget of €1.6m, notably from a co-production with Sparks and a grant of up to €713,000 from the National Film Fund (also to handle international sales). Filming for the project, that stood out last December at the Tallin Baltic Event co-production market, should last 42 days with Dániel Reich as the film’s director of photography.

(Translated from French)