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PRODUCTION Hungary

Elek explores past traumas in Returning Home

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Having kicked off in mid-July in Gothenburg, the Swedish part of the shoot on Hungarian director Judit Elek’s seventh narrative feature, Returning Home, will wrap soon.

Co-produced by Hungary, Sweden and Romania, the film stars Kathleen Gati, Andras Demeter, Lóránt Váta and Gizella Molnar.

Freely inspired by the works of Marguerite Duras and Miklos Meszoly, Returning Home was co-written by the director and Laszlo Berger (who is also lensing the film).

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The plot centres on Katherine, a woman who returns to Romania, now under Ceaucescu, for the first time since she found refuge in Sweden as a child fleeing the Holocaust. But her traumatic memories and her husband’s betrayal with her sister push her over the edge.

Selected at Cannes in Critics’ Week 1969 with The Lady from Constantinople, in the Un Certain Regard 1984 with Maria’s Day and in the Directors’ Fortnight 1996 with her documentary To Speak the Unspeakable: The Message of Elie Wiesel, Elek also won a FIPRESCI prize at Locarno in 1978 for Maybe Tomorrow and Best Screenplay at Hungarian Film Week 2007 for The Eighth Day of the Week.

Produced by the director’s company Danielfilm Studio, Returning Home has a €1.7m budget. This includes co-production support from Romania’s Artis Film and Sweden’s Illusion Film, backing from Eurimages (€220,000), the Motion Picture Foundation of Hungary, the National Cultural Fund of Hungary, the Romanian CNC and regional fund Film i Väst.

The 48-day shoot will finish in Romania in October. The film’s theatrical release is planned for autumn 2010.

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(Translated from French)

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