Interviews
Q&A with Hungarian Filmmaker Lili Horvát
Hungarian screen writer and film director Lili Horvát came to the 16th Zurich Film Festival to present her second featured film – Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of time. At the event Meet & Greet the filmmakers we had the chance to talk to her.
Lili Horvát at the 16th Zurich Film Festival – Credit Viktoria Toth.
Vivamost: Your film was premiered yesterday here in Zurich and in Hungary a few days before. How did the public react to your film?
Lili Horvát: Here we had a really nice Q&A, the audience was very open and asked a lot of questions, which is always nice. It was not just me and the moderator talking but the audience stayed for the Q&A and it was very positive.
I learned also there is a huge Hungarian community in Zurich. I didn’t know that. They came to the Premiere and the screenings.
And in Hungary the virus number is really high so people are pretty much afraid to go to the cinemas. However despite this we had a really good opening weekend. Maybe because of all of these festivals, we had really good reviews in Hungary and internationally. It created a buzz around the film and people go watch it.
Vivamost: How did you select your actors?
Lili Horvát: For Natasa Stork (Vizy Márta), it is her first big role even if she is approaching 40. I don´t understand why no one casted her before because she is made for the big screen. In Hungary it is a small market so there are no film actors. Every film actor plays in the theatre. We did a big casting. I chose her and then we were doing a lot of rehearsals to prepare for the role.
For the male protagonist, Viktor Bodó (Drexler János), he started as one of the most talented actors of his generation. But he quitted acting at a very young age. In his early twenties, he started directing in theatres. He has become a really well-known theatre director and he works a lot in Germany and Austria too. And it is a huge thing he didn´t turned down my offer. He had not done any acting in 15 years and he was interested in this film.
Natasa Stork (Vizy Márta) in the film Preparations to be together for an unknown period of time by Lili Horvát
Vivamost: The tile of the film is extremely long, you didn´t want to make it a little bit shorter?
Lili Horvát: It is a matter of taste. Some like it a lot and some don´t understand why it is such a long title. It was originally the title of a not well-known theatre play from 1972 which i read about in an art book many years ago. When i wrote the story then it came to mind and I thought it was like an outline for the story.
Vivamost: Where are you going after Zurich?
Lili Horvát: The film is traveling quite a lot. It will go to Busan, Thessaloniki, Antalya, Chicago, etc… That is only for October but i cannot go with the film. Maybe I will go to Spain. We were in Toronto but I am so happy in Zurich.
Vivamost: Why did you want to become a film director?
Lili Horvát: In my teenage years I did a lot of writing, photography as well and then I started to study film Series in Paris and spent two semesters there. Then I got involved in the Budapest film school which is a very prestigious small film university. I was 19. Then it was no question i go back there.
Vivamost: Do you think it is more difficult to make it in this business as a woman?
Lili Horvát: Yes, sure… but I am one of the lucky ones for whom there was no question if I can allow myself to be in a male profession. I am really have to thank my parents for that because they raised me as equal with my brother..
Vivamost: At the Zurich Film Festival this year we have 52% of women as film makers.
Lili Horvát: This is nice. I don´t like this quota thing to be honest, but it is necessary. It can become natural after a little time and it will be natural that female directors are equally represented in the program. Me personally, as a female director I don´t like it because I don´t like this thought that maybe my film was invited because I am a woman. I don´t want to participate in the Paralympic games. I want to race in the Olympics.
Lili Horvát said she is working on a new project at the moment but it is still too early to talk about it.
Vivamost Review of the film
Summary:
Márta (Natasa Stork) is a middle-age woman who has returned to Budapest after 20 years in America working as a doctor. The film starts as she stands on the Liberty bridge waiting for János (Viktor Bodó). She says the two would have met in New Jersey and made an appointment to meet again. Marta is deeply in love with him. When János does not come, Márta starts searching for him and wants to comprehend but when the two finally meet again he does not seem to know her.
Preparations to be together for an unknown period of time – credit photo ZFF
Does Marta have a psychological disorder? Maybe the two never made an appointment to meet? Is Janos lying when he tells Marta he doesn´t know her? Does he have a wife in Budapest? Will they fall in love at the end?
During the entire mystery film of the Hungarian director, Lili Horvát, you search for answers, which you will only get at the very end. We enjoyed the film, which competed in the feature film competition for a Golden Eye Award.
