The Pitch Forum of the NFI’s Incubator programme met with great interest, as first-time filmmakers pitched their ideas to a full house at the Toldi Cinema in Budapest.
The jury found four film ideas to be the best, and an additional one won an Audience Award. The five winners can further develop the scripts of their film ideas with the support of the National Film Institute Hungary (NFI).
The Incubator Programme was launched in 2015 with the mission to help young filmmakers create their debut features or documentaries. Directors can send in their treatments, from which a pre-selection jury consisting of film professionals chooses ten projects. The ten chosen projects then participate in workshops and salon events throughout the year, and eventually in a pitching forum, after which only five continue their path toward production.
Supported by the NFI, the feature film projects receive a maximum of 329,000 EUR /135 m HUF, while the documentaries receive 97,000 EUR / 40 m HUF.
The 9th Incubator Pitch Forum was held on 15 November 2024.
WINNERS:
We Will Live for a Thousand Years and We Will Be Very Sad at the End / Ezer évig fogunk élni és nagyon szomorúak leszünk a végére (working title)
Directed by Kristóf Orzói
Produced by Milk & Honey Productions
54-year-old Gabó once was an ambitious journalist, but for decades he has been living his life in the maze of streets and pubs of downtown Budapest. One day, his 18-year-old son, who lives in the countryside, asks if he could live with him. Gabó and his son get lost together in the city, but Gabó has to face the fact that there are things that cannot be fixed. The film is about addiction, loneliness and the missing fathers of our generation.
Temama
Directed by Pici Pápai
Produced by Inforg M&M
Flora must choose between saving a little boy with a complicated background and her own family. The story was partly inspired by the director’s personal experience, which the director plans to tell with documentarist methods but with a very personal and intimate approach.
Firedamp / Sújtólég (working title)
Directed by Gábor Varga
Produced by Forcodes Productions Kft.
Gyula, a miner, was thought to be dead as he disappeared during work at the end of the 1980s. Since then, the people of the town have been celebrating him as a tragic hero. In the present day, when a Chinese mine explodes, Gyula emerges from the rubble unharmed, not having aged a single day. Upon returning to his hometown, his old friends, his 100-year-old mother and his old love seem to welcome him solemnly, but it is not easy for Gyula to fit in and adapt to the idealised image that has been formed of him. The small town slowly begins to doubt Gyula's identity. Made in the style of Czech comedies, the film is about the post-socialist heritage, generational differences and unfulfilled dreams.
The Last Train Robbery / Az utolsó vonatrablás (working title)
Directed by Péter Karácsony
Produced by Megafilm
Set in the 1860s, the film follows Paula, who gets involved in an adventure where she has to face not only dangers, but also her fears and social oppression. Inspired by true events, this grotesque, dark comedy explores a woman's discovery of her own strength and independence through the events of a mysterious train robbery.
Audience Award:
It Was Still There Yesterday / Tegnap még megvolt (working title)
Directed by Bence Sipos
Produced by Éva Török
In this road film-dramedy, 34-year-old ex-musician Bálint learns that his long-lost father has become mute. Bálint wants to help his father, and is joined by his estranged girlfriend, Lilla, and her Finnish exchange student friend, Valtteri, who came to visit them with his rally car. Teamed up together, they go on a great adventure to find the cure for the father’s condition.
