Moscow IFF Competition: Retrace/Visszatérés

15-06-2011

Moscow IFF Competition: Retrace/Visszatérés

By Iulia Blaga

In Retrace/ Visszatérés, directed by Hungary's Judit Elek, a woman from a Transylvanian village travels to Ceauşescu's Romania for the first time since finding refuge in Sweden as a child escaping the Holocaust. When she returnes to her homeland for the first time in 1980, together with her family, forgotten childhood memories start to haunt her. She will have to face the reality of Ceauşescu's oppressive dictatorship as well as the emerging passion between her husband and her own sister.

{mosimage}Retrace is one of the most lyric films made by Elek, a Film New Europe ambassador. The story is based on the novels Summer Night by Marguerite Duras and Winged Horses by Miklós Mészöly.

"I'm very pleased and can give much thanks to my advisors at ScripTeast, which was very useful to my project," Elek said before starting to shoot the film.

The project is a Hungarian (70%) - Romanian (30%) co-production between Judit Elek Danielfilm Studio and Artis Film (www.artisfilm.ro), with the support of the Swedish Film I Väst (www.filmivast.se), Illusion Film (www.illusionfilm.se) and Göteborg Regional Film Fund.

The budget is 1,7 million euro, including 220,000 euro from Eurimages (www.coe.int/t/dg4/eurimages). The Motion Picture Foundation of Hungary (www.mmka.hu), the Board of the Motion Picture Section of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary (www.nka.hu) and the Romanian National Centre for Cinema (www.cncinema.abt.ro) are also providing financial support.

Filming took place on location in Sweden and Romania. Elek wrote the script, with Laszlo Berger in charge of the dramaturgy. Berger is also the DOP. The leading role is played by Kathleen Gati, a Hungarian residing in Los Angeles. The cast includes Hungarian, Romanian and Swedish actors: András Demeter, Philip Zandén, Shara Clark, Hilda Péter, Manna Kenderesi, Gizella Molnár, and Loránd Váta.

The international premiere of the film will be at the Moscow IFF on 27 June 2011. Elek was honoured as Master of the Motion Picture at the Hungarian Film Week in 2009. She is a fondator member of the European Film Academy (www.europeanfilmacademy.org).

Production Information

Danielfilm Studio Ltd.

Judit Elek, producer

1125 Budapest, Dániel út 22

Phone: +36 1 275 23 77

Fax:+36 1 275 93 23

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Artis Film Romania Ltd.

Cornelia Paloş, producer

59 Romulus Street, Sector 3

70000 Bucharest, Romania

Phone : +40 21 322 36 48