The Seventh Circle in post-production
Hungarian director Árpád Sopsits is currently putting the finishing touches in post-production to his feature The Seventh Circle (formerly The Ant), which explores the despair, hidden aggressiveness and destructive power of children. The cast includes Zsolt Trill, Benett Vilmanyi, Tamas Eross, Anna Vicsotka, Lajos Kovács, Sándor Gáspár and Feró Nagy.
Written by the director, the film centres on a group of four boys and two girls aged between 12 and 14, who live in a village and meet up in the forest after school. Sebastian – the most precocious of the group – likes to tell strange, rather frightening stories and proves to be an expert on nature’s secrets.
Obsessed by death and the realm beyond, he exerts an increasing influence over his friends and encourages them to carry out experiments on ants and question the religion represented in the village by Father Gabriel. His influence grows more and more dangerous, leading to tragedy.
The director commented: "We’re used to believing that our children are innocent, but evil also resides in their minds". He continued: "As they are impressionable and at the mercy of others, children can even become victims of sects and Satanism." The film is inspired by two tragic events that occurred in Hungary in recent years.
Sopsits’ debut feature (Shooting Gallery) was selected in the Directors’ Fortnight in 1990, his second film (Video Blues) screened in competition at Locarno in 1992 and his latest work (Abandoned) picked up the Grand Prize at the 2001 Montreal Film Festival and Best Director at Hungarian Film Week.
Produced by Pál Sándor for Hunnia Filmstúdió, The Seventh Circle received €366,000 in backing from the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary (MMKA). The title is set to be released domestically in early 2009 and distribution is still under negotiation.
Founded in 1957, Hunnia Filmstúdió have recently produced Sándor’s Noah’s Ark, András Szoke’s Railroad Junkies, János Szász’s Opium - Diary of a Madwoman and Anna Faur’s Girls. The company have just got production underway on Márta Mészáros’ Hope and are then set to back Géza Bereményi’s Baby Vadnai and Péter Gárdos’ Seven Erotic Stories from the 20th Century. Cineuropa will have more news about these latter three projects shortly.
(Translated from French)
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