Taxidermia, a Hungarian and European gem
Young Hungarian cinema seems to be becoming a regular in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2004, Nimród Antal presented his debut feature Kontroll [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and in 2005 Kornel Mundruczo showed off his second film Johanna [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in the sidebar section. Now it’s György Pálfi’s turn to impress the event’s artistic director, Thierry Frémeaux with his second feature, Taxidermia [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which will be shown at the 59th edition of the festival (May 17-28).
The film’s selection is also an opportunity for European co-productions to shine, as Taxidermia is a co-production between Hungary (EuroFilm Studio, 50%), France (Memento Films and La Cinéfacture, 25%) and Austria (Amour Fou Filmproduktion , 25 %).
The film has a €2m budget and received funding from the Hungarian Film Foundation, Eurimages (€200,000), Arte France Cinéma (€350,000), Duna TV, the Vienna Film Fund, the ORF and the Austrian Film Institute. The screenplay, penned by György Pálfi and Zsofia Ruttkay, also picked up awards at Sundance. The film’s international sales are being handled by Dutch sales company Fortissimo Film Sales.
Born in Budapest in 1974, Pálfi first came into the limelight in 2002 with his debut feature Hic, which was selected at over a hundred festivals worldwide and won several awards, including the Fassbinder European Discovery of the Year Award at the European Film Awards and a special mention for the young director at San Sébastian.
Presented this February in the Hungarian Film Week, his new gem Taxidermia (see review and Making of) won, among other awards, the Main Prize, the Gene Moskowitz Prize awarded by foreign critics and the Best Male and Female Supporting Actor awards at the event.
Hungarian cinema will also be represented at Cannes this year in the Cinéfondation programme by the short A Vírus by Ágnes Kocsis. Kocsis has just made it big with her debut feature Fresh Air, which won awards for Best First Film at the last Hungarian Film Week.
(Translated from French)
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