An opera singing student Bogi earns money by babysitting the children of her cousin. On the day of her final exam, when she is with the kids, the youngest of them, Vili, accidentally swallows a magnet. In panic, Bogi cannot tell the parents what happened. During the day, Bogi’s mind is narrowing down, and she is convinced Vili is dying. She starts having mental symptoms and feels like she has to punish herself. The story is also told from the point of view of the older child, Lujzi, who is now confronted with the adult’s world based on lies.

“The film’s strength is its immediacy and the fact that it’s very personal. We cast our own children and one of the main locations is our own home. With the methodologies of the well-known Budapest School from the 70s, we created characters that are very similar to our actors’ lives and personalities. We bring our viewers closer to the film’s visuality with a mixture of direct documentarian techniques and the narrativity of feature films.

The motor of the dramaturgy is a compunction which comes from the challenges of everyday lives, instinctive denial of responsibility and silence rooted in horror. We want to channel the journey and to show how our mental vision narrows down because of remorse. Our protagonist is trapped in this consciousness, and as a result she slowly starts to lose her sense of judgment. But after she reaches rock-bottom, her vision starts to clear up and she is finally able to admit all her secrets”, director Mihály Schwehtje and producer Genovéva Petrovits told FNE.

Zoltán Mártonffy of CineSuper and Genovéva Petrovits of Kino Alfa Productions are producing the film in coproduction with Látókép Productions.

The development of the project was supported by MEDIA Creative Europe in 2022. The Hungarian Tax Rebate and the Municipality of District VI. Terézváros co-supported the project.

The total budget is 100,000 EUR.

“We were able to greenlight the shooting of the film in late 2022, because of the investment from Cinesuper and due to the fact that the project was intentionally designed since the very first idea as a low budget production. We did not shoot with a ‘crew’ but with a ‘team’ of young and enthusiastic filmmakers, who are professional of course but in the first place are very dedicated to working on stories which resonate with them”, Petrovits also said.

The film was shot entirely in Budapest in 2022, mainly in the director’s home and also in the prestigious Liszt Academy’s building, where the main character studies.  

The planned delivery date is in the second half of 2024. The Hungarian theatrical release will be handled by local art house film’s distributor Mozinet.

Production Information:

Producers:
Kino Alfa Productions (Hungary)
Genovéva Petrovits: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
CineSuper (Hungary)

Coproducer:
Látókép Productions (Hungary)

Credits:
Director: Mihály Schwechtje
Writers: Mihály Schwechtje, Panni Szurdi
DoP: Csaba Bántó
Editor: Szabolcs Olivér Kővári
Cast: Dorottya Mari, Csaba Polgár, Juli Jakab, Matild Schwechtje, Jónás Schwechtje, Mari Kiss, Richárd Urbán, Gábor Ferenczi, Andrea Fullajtár