The first Budapest Debut Film Forum concluded on Wednesday
The first Budapest Debut Film Forum concluded on Wednesday. The professional jury chose Slovakian film plan Victim by director Michal Blaško and producer Jakub Viktorín as the most promising project.
Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival organised the first Budapest Debut Film Forum, which took place on March 26–27 with the participation of the creators of the 8 selected projects and an international group of tutors – film scholar and consultant Gabriel Paletz, script consultant and creative advisor Wim Vanacker, award-winning scriptwriter-director Balázs Lengyel, and scriptwriter-director-actress Júlia Jakab. Debut filmmakers from the Central and Eastern European were invited to submit their projects to the networking event in Budapest that offered panel talks and masterclasses.
The 8 selected projects came from all around the region: Bulgaria, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
The professional jury chose Slovakian film plan Victim by Michal Blaško as the most promising project, which had previously been selected for the Atelier in the framework of Cannes' Cinéfondation programme. The members of the professional jury – Matthieu Darras, Wim Vanacker and Gabriel M. Paletz said that the project had great potential. They emphasized the importance of the project’s topic that displays strong social responsibility and portrays a current social issue.
The chosen project receives a development grant of 1000 euros.
Victim was pitched by director Michal Blaško and producer Jakub Viktorín representing Bratislava-based production company nutprodukcia. The project is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and the Czech Film Fund. Principal photography is due to begin in the second half of October, with hopes to release the feature in spring 2020.
The logline of the film is the following: "What could be the consequences of a child's lie". The story follows Irina (40) who is an immigrant, single mother living in a small Czech town. One night, her teenage son claims he was assaulted by three young Roma. Irina demands justice, and is met with great solidarity by her new society – until she spots inconsistencies in her son’s account.
The 8 selected projects were:
Victim – Michal Blasko (Slovakia)
Kék Pelikan – László Csáki (Hungary)
Begyulladva – Balázs Dudás (Hungary)
Kilakoltatás – Máté Bence Fazekas (Hungary)
Eternity Package – Magdalena Ilieva (Bulgaria)
Neither Voice – Ester Ivakic (Slovenia)
The Sweet Bitterness of Ripe Pomegranates – Andrey Volkashin (North Macedonia)
October – Cristian Pascariu (Romania)
Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival is the most significant short film event in Hungary. Every important Hungarian short film made its debut here over the last few years, among others Sing, which went on to win an Academy Award.
