(2003, feature, 35mm, color, 106 minutes, 1:1,85, DolbySR)
First feature
Who hasn't felt at a given moment at some point during their shorter or longer life that they wanted to step out of their usual environment. To hide away from the world. To escape from the past, themselves and the present. To disappear from the face of the earth.
This moment has arrived in the life of Bulcsú aged twenty something.
This film is a special mixture of tale and reality, down below, under the ground. The story is about a strange young man, Bulcsú, his fellow inspectors, who are all without exception likeable characters, a rival ticket inspection team, and racing along the tracks and perhaps about love and starting anew.
It is about the dramatic but mostly comical relationships between passengers and ticket inspectors everybody is familiar with. It is about the management of the underground company, for whom people's faith vested in the underground is more important than anything else and they are willing to do anything to keep it. It is about a character, Roadrunner, who appears now and again and who considers himself a member of the Passengers Liberation Society, and keeps spraying inspectors who then start chasing him in heated excitement down the corridors, platforms, elevators, but of course all in vain. Although once...
And there is Béla, the fallen engine driver, who feels just as much at home in the world of outcasts as Bulcsú. And there is Szofi, his daughter, who Bulcsú immediately falls in love with, even though the Miss Right is dressed in a bear costume. But there is a Shadowy figure among them, a murderous machine. Nobody knows who he is. Perhaps only Bulcsú does.
In the end, a scene comes that is all too familar from western films: the final battle that decides all. Between Good and Evil.
The most successful Hungarian film in cinema in the year 2003
Actors
Awards
European Film Academy - 2004
Nominated for Best European Director
Aubagne International Film Festival - 2004
Grand Prix for Best Soundtrack, Best Screenplay
Cannes International Film Festival - Un Certain Regard - 2004
Prix de la Jeunesse
Chicago International Film Festival - 2004
Gold Hugo - Main Prize
Palic International Film Festival - 2004
Golden Tower
Kiev MOLODIST International Film Festival - 2004
Best Feature Film
Bitola International Film Camera Festival Manaki Brothers - 2004
Silver Camera 300 to Gyula Pados, Student Jury's Prize to Gyula Pados
Cottbus FilmFestival - 2004
FIPRESCI Prize, Ecumenical Jury's Prize, Student Jury's Prize, Audience Prize
Warsaw International Film Festival - 2004
Audience's Prize
Budapest Hungarian Film Week - 2004
Sándor Simó Prize for Best First Film, Best Cinematography: Gyula Pados, Gene Moskowitz Prize
Sochi International Film Festival - 2004
Special Prize of the Jury
Copenhagen CPH:PIX - 2004
Best Director Prize, Best Cinematography: Gyula Pados
Annonay International Film Festival - 2005
Student Jury's Prize (Le Prix des Lyceens)
Festivals
San Sebastian International Film Festival - 2014
Retrospective
Helsinki Love & Anarchy International Film Festival - 2004
Jerusalem International Film Festival - 2004
New York New Directors/New Films Festival - 2005
Brussels L’Age d’Or - 2004
(in competition)
Bratislava International Film Festival - 2004
Luxembourg CinÉast - 2009
Seville Film Festival - 2004
Vilnius International Film Festival - 2005
Bydgoszcz Camerimage - 2004
(in competition)
Sodankylä Midnight Sun Film Festival - 2004
Cleveland International Film Festival - 2005
(in competition)
Los Angeles AFI FEST - 2004
Braunschweig International Film Festival - 2004
(in competition)
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - 2004
Variety Critics' Choice
Roma MedFilm Festival - 2005
Trieste Film Festival - 2005
(in competition)
Montreal The World Film Festival - 2004
Antwerpen PERSPEKTIEF - 2006
Taipei Film Festival - 2005
Brussels BIFFF - 2005
(in competition)
Saint-Petersburg Festival of Festivals - 2005
Hong Kong International Film Festival - 2005
Pune International Film Festival - 2005
Motovun Film Festival - 2004
Adelaide International Film Festival - 2005
Stockholm International Film Festival - 2004
Sarajevo Film Festival - 2004
Cluj-Napoca Transilvania - 2004
(in competition)
Cabourg Film Festival - 2006
Calcutta International Film Festival - 2004
Mexico City FICCO - 2005
(in competition)
Kosice Art Film Fest - 2004
Leeuwarden Noordelijk Film Festival - 2004
Valladolid International Film Festival - 2004
Fort Worth Lone Star IFF - 2007
Ankara Festival on Wheels - 2004
Bilbao Fantasy - 2005
Setúbal FESTROIA International Film Festival - 2004
(in competition)
Sofia International Film Festival - 2005
European Screen
Huesca Film Festival - 2005
Jakarta JIFFest - 2005
Toronto International Film Festival - 2004
Skopje Film Festival - 2004
Berlin Fantasy Filmfest - 2004
Athens Opening Nights International Film Festival - 2004
(in competition)
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival - 2004
Edinburgh International Film Festival - 2004
Koszalin Debut Film Festival - 2005
(in competition)
Vancouver International Film Festival - 2004
National premiere:
2003
