| BOLSHE VITA - HUNGARY, 1996 | MACEDONIAN |
| CREDITS
Dir./ scr. : Ibolya FEKETE
|
|
CAST
Yuri FOMICHEV
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In the hectic
summer of 1989, Hungary opened up its western border, which started a new
migration in the upheaval of Eastern Europe. Refugees of war, poverty and
politics all passed through Hungary, the crossroads of East and West: adventure
seekers, smugglers, mafiosos and a few young people looking for a new place
in a world that seemed reborn. They are the heroes of this story. They
arrive from various directions: two moony musicians and engineer from Russia,
two girls from Britain and America. They all meet in Budapest, in a rock-pub
called "Bolshe Vita". They all fall in love and wander around the turbulent
city, the boys trying to make a living by playing music on the street or
doing business in the flea market known as "COMECON". They spend a summer
togehter in the short interval between the collapse of the dictatorships
and the dawn of the new chaos - the time we called freedom.
Born in
Paszto, Hungary, 23 January, 1951. After graduating as a high school teacher
of Hungarian and Russian language and literature, Fekete worked as a free-lance
book editor. Then, she co-scripted three films for the director Gyorgy
SZOMJAS: WALL-DRILLER (1985), MR. UNIVERSE (1986) and FAST AND LOOSE (1988).
Her documentaries include BERLIN AND BACK (1990) and CHILDREN OF THE APOCALYPSE
(1992) which was nominated for the European Award of the Year. Since 1990
she has been a dramaturge at Hunnia Filmstudio, Budapest. BOLSHE VITA is
her debut feature and won both, the Gene Moskowitz (foreign critics) Award
and Best First Feature Prize at the Hungarian Film Week in Budapest last
year.
A native
of Budapest, 1945, Szalai, upon completing secondary school, he trained
as a photographer and, for a short time, worked for the press. Starting
in 1968, he worked as an assistant cameraman for Tv. He studied cinematography
under Gyorgy ILLES and Janos ZSOMBOLYAI at the Aacdemy of Theatre and Film
Art, between 1970 and 1974. After graduation, he worked for Hungarian Television
as a cameraman on various assignments all over the world. Since the late
1970s, he has taken on more and more work in feature filming and has won
increasing recognition and various prizes, both in Hungary and abroad.
His first cinematographic work for a feature film MIDNIGHT REHEARSAL revealed
his preoccupation with color and color effects, evidenced later especially
in the co-production of TV Series on the life of J.S. Bach. As a D.O.P.
, Szalai worked in more than 20 features including 3 foreign TV Films -
co-productions: J.S. BACH, directed by Lothar BELLAGH (Germany), RENDEZVOUS
IN BUDAPEST, directed by Miklos HAJDUFY (Hung./Austrian co-prod.) and THE
COLORED MAN, directed by Lutz BUSCHER (Hung./German co-prod.) Distinction:
Andras SZALAI won a Bela Balazs Prize in 1987. Previously he was awarded
at the Hungarian TV Festival, in 1982 and 1986 for Best Camera Work and
in 1986 he received the Golden Prague Award.