18/01/2007

The only Hungarian representative so far at the upcoming Berlinale (February 8-18, 2007), Iska's Journey (Iszka utazása) by Csaba Bollók, will feature in competition in the Generation Kplus section.

The film – the third feature by the director after North by North (1998) and Miraq (2006) – came about after an encounter five years ago with Mária Varga, a street child in a South Carpathian mining town. Today, the young girl plays the lead role in Iska's Journey after her life inspired the script penned by the director.

In the story, Iska is 12. Put into care in an orphanage, where she is interrogated for possible signs of physical abuse by her parents, she replies: "They don’t beat me every day". She then sets out on her first voyage from her small town to the Black Sea, where she becomes the victim of human trafficking, meeting on her path other children in the same situation yet determined to escape their harsh destiny. The cast includes some genuine street children, in particular Marian Rusache, Marius Bodochi and Dan Tudor.

Filmed in autumn 2005, Iska's Journey was produced by Ágnes Csere for Merkelfilm for €610,000. The DoP is Francisco Gózon, whose work recently attracted attention in István Szaladják’s Bird Saviour, Clouds and Wind [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news).

The title will also be presented at the 38th Hungarian Film Week (January 30-February 6) in Budapest and is expected to reach Hungarian screens in autumn 2007.

(Translated from French)