Opium - Diary of a Madwoman
(Ópium - Egy elmebeteg nő naplója)

feature, 35mm, 108 minutes, 1:1.85

co-produced with: Germany

PREMIER (HUNGARY): 2007.

Hungary 1913. The story of Josef Brenner, a writer and doctor, is a Faust story of our times. Brenner works as a doctor in a mental clinic in the early 20th century. He has been suffering from writer's block for months, unable to put down even a single line on paper and becoming a morphine addict in the process. One day he gets a new patient, the 28-year-old Gizella. The insane woman, by contrast, keeps writing all the time; she is addicted to her own diary and is unable to put her pen down. The young woman gets increasingly overwhelmed by the obsession that a cruel alien power has possessed her. Brenner becomes jealous of the woman, who creates fanatically and brilliantly. The initial doctor-patient relationship gradually transforms: doctor and patient fall in love with each other, and sexual frenzy gets the upper hand in their relation. To make everything come true he has been incapable of so far, Brenner wants to enter into a pact with Evil through the woman�s body. Evil, however, wants Brenner for himself body and soul. The doctor has to pay a big price for this alliance. In return, Gizella asks him to cut out her brain, deliver her from Evil, and
bring oblivion for her. Brenner has no choice. He must destroy Gizella: the one and only person he really loved.

Creators

János Szász Director
János Szász, András Szekér Screenplay
Tibor Máthé Director of photography
Anna Kornis Editor
István Sipos, Manuel Laval, Matthias Schwab Sound
Tibor Lázár Visual design
János Breckl Costumes
Pál Sándor, András Hámori Producer
Hunnia Film Studio Production company
EuroArts Filmed Entertainment / DE Co-producer
Ulrich Thomsen, Kirsti Stubo, Zsolt László, Enikő Börcsök, Gyöngyvér Bognár, Roland Rába, László Kassai, Zoltán Szőllősi, Géza Szöllősi, Ákos Horváth Cast

Awards

Moscow International Film Festival - 2007 Kirsti Stubo - Best Actress
Budapest Hungarian Film Week - 2007 János Szász - Best Director
Porto FANTASPORTO - 2008 Best Feature Film's Manoel de Oliveira Award
Budapest Hungarian Film Week - 2007 Tibor Máthé - Best Cinematography
Budapest Hungarian Film Week - 2007 István Sipos - Best Sound
Budapest Hungarian Film Week - 2007 Gene Moskowitz Prize
Porto FANTASPORTO - 2008 Kirsti Stubo - Best Actress

Festivals

Wroclaw New Horizons IFF - 2011
Palic International Film Festival - 2007 (in competition)
Seattle International Film Festival - 2008
Chicago International Film Festival - 2007 (in competition)
Montreal The World Film Festival - 2007
Seville Film Festival - 2007 (in competition)
Madrid International Film Festival - 2008
Ourense International Independent Film Festival - 2008 (in competition)
Bratislava International Film Festival - 2007
Calcutta International Film Festival - 2007
Copenhagen CPH:PIX - 2007
London Film Festival - 2007
Wroclaw New Horizons IFF - 2008
Bydgoszcz Camerimage - 2007
Sofia International Film Festival - 2008
Vukovar Film Festival - 2008 (in competition)
Vlissingen Film by the Sea - 2007 (in competition)
Munich Film Festival - 2007
Cluj-Napoca Transilvania - 2008
Segovia MUCES - 2007
Haifa International Film Festival - 2007
Targu-Mures AlterNative - 2007
Cottbus FilmFestival - 2007 (in competition)

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