– The filmmaker, revealed with Land of Storms, is working on his second feature. A Uniofilm Entertainment production sold by NFI World Sales
Director Ádám Császi (© Salzgeber)
On 10 August, Ádám Császi began filming his second feature, Three Thousand Numbered Pieces (Ando Drom). Revealed in the Panorama section of the 2014 Berlinale with Land of Storms [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adam Csaszi
film profile], the filmmaker brings together a cast including Franciska Farkas (Viktoria – A Tale of Grace and Greed [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Eternal Winter [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Kristóf Horváth (already present in Land of Storms), Krisztofer Pászik (Brazilians [+see also:
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film profile]), Rómeó Pápa, Edmond Oláh, Norbert Varga, Wieland Speck, Csaba Gerner and Ádám Varga.
Written by Ádám Császi and Balázs Lengyel (Lajko: Gypsy in Space [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), the script centres on a white director working with a troupe of Romas with severely underprivileged backgrounds. The troupe members are former heroin addicts, ex-homeless people, juvenile delinquents, victims of rape and abuse. The play they make together, entitled Gypsy Hungarian, presents with genuine sincerity the unvarnished truth of their real experiences — in other words, the play capitalises on their misery. Following one of their performances, the actors get tired of being taken advantage of and leave the troupe. They set out on an inner and outer journey into the unknown depths of their Roma consciousness but by doing so, they also present and reinforce a plethora of racist stereotypes. The only conclusion they arrive at is that the mutual enmity between minorities and the majority is inescapable, intolerable and inextricable. The troupe finally reunites out of practical reasons: the director and the play are invited to Berlin’s most prominent theatre and the prestigious festival promises to bring them all plenty of money and success…
According to Ádám Császi, the film’s main sources of inspiration are Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ and Ruben Östlund’s The Square [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile], with ironic disruptive elements borrowed from surrealism in the lineage of Borgman [+see also:
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interview: Alex van Varmerdam
interview: Reinout Scholten van Aschat
film profile] ou Toni Erdmann [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Maren Ade
film profile]. It is also worth noting that the film’s original title (Ando Drom) is a reference to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, in the sense that it is a portrait of a lost generation.
Produced by István Bodzsár for Uniofilm Entertainment, Three Thousand Numbered Pieces benefits from support from the National Film Institute Hungary. Filming will take place until 15 October in the Hungarian capital at the New York Boscolo Hotel, the Parisi Court Hotel and at the Budapest Operett Theatre, but also in Ózd (at Hétes telep) with Balázs István Balázs handling the cinematography (winner of the IMAGO 2020 award). Distribution in Hungarian cinemas will be handled by Mozgó Mozi and international sales by NFI World Sales.
For the record, Uniofilm Entertainment also features in its recent filmography The Butcher, The Whore and the One-Eyed Man [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by János Szász and Heavenly Shift [+see also:
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film profile] by Márk Bodzsár, as well as The Exam [+see also:
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film profile] by Péter Bergendy.
(Translated from French)