Hajdu, Pálfi and Kocsis: The inseparable trio

by Fabien Lemercier

15/06/2006 - Following its presence at Cannes (see Special Report Hungarian blitz on the Croisette), Hungarian cinema continues its successful run at Karlovy Vary with three young directors: Szabolcs Hajdu, György Pálfi and Ágnes Kocsis.

Screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight, Un Certain Regard and Critics’ Week sidebars (see Special Report), the latest films by the three directors have now been selected for the 41st edition of the Karlovy Vary Festival (June 30–July 8).

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White Palms [trailer, film focus] by Hajdu (see interview) will compete at the Czech event in the East of the West section, which this year includes 17 features. The occasion should offer an excellent opportunity for Onoma – the French company handling the film’s international sales – to close negotiations that are already well underway with Canada, the US, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and Japan.

Meanwhile, Taxidermia [trailer] by Pálfi (see interview) will be presented in the Another View section, which includes a line-up of 32 films, and focuses on unconventional, original, even experimental films in terms of form and content. A definition that corresponds perfectly to the highly personal film by the Hungarian director, which opens in France on August 23 by Memento Films, the film’s French co-producer with La Cinéfacture, alongside Hungarian outfit EuroFilm Studio and Austria’s Amour Fou Filmproduktion).

Lastly, Kocsis’ debut Fresh Air [trailer] (see interview) was selected from among ten films in the Variety Critics’ Choice: Europe Now! section supported by European Film Promotion. French sales outfit F For Film has recently added Fresh Air to its line-up.

(Translated from French)