3rd Hungarian Film Showcase in London"Somewhere in the World"
22-28 June 2010
Last Report on Anna (2009)
Director: Marta Meszaros
Director: Marta Meszaros
Q & A with the director (by Aniko Goracz, 15th October 2009, Hungary, source: www.magyar.film.hu)
Q: Was your intention with Anna Kethly to show a positive female character from the 20th century's Hungary to your audience?
A: When I make a film I have no intention to creat a heroic example. I start to work on a screenplay only if I have a feeling that there's an interesting person in the story, and if as a director I'm able to add something to it. This time I had two main goals: to create a realistic picture about the 70s, about its depressing atmosphere and of course to introduce Anna Kethly, her amazing personality, who was always loyal to her own beliefs and in many aspects she was a romantic politician. She has chosen this profession not for the money or the career, but for the ideas she had faith in.
A: When I make a film I have no intention to creat a heroic example. I start to work on a screenplay only if I have a feeling that there's an interesting person in the story, and if as a director I'm able to add something to it. This time I had two main goals: to create a realistic picture about the 70s, about its depressing atmosphere and of course to introduce Anna Kethly, her amazing personality, who was always loyal to her own beliefs and in many aspects she was a romantic politician. She has chosen this profession not for the money or the career, but for the ideas she had faith in.
Q: You had previous films that were based on famous women's lives. Is this only a coincidence that your main character is woman in your new film?
A: Well, journalists like to say things like that I'm working only with female heroes. But the truth is that I don't care for the gender, but the personality. I have to say that women in Hungary are very poorly treated in politics, as well as in the world of art. It is very hard to be a writer or politician, than in Poland for example, where we've seen women in wide range of positions, from the national bank to the town hall's chair in Warsaw. Kethly was the one and only woman in the parliament for quite a long time in the 20th century.
A: Well, journalists like to say things like that I'm working only with female heroes. But the truth is that I don't care for the gender, but the personality. I have to say that women in Hungary are very poorly treated in politics, as well as in the world of art. It is very hard to be a writer or politician, than in Poland for example, where we've seen women in wide range of positions, from the national bank to the town hall's chair in Warsaw. Kethly was the one and only woman in the parliament for quite a long time in the 20th century.
Q: Beside your regular actors we see new faces as well in the "Last Report on Anna". How have chosen the right actor to the right character?
A: I do like to work with the same actors in my films. Lili Monori's emphatic appearance has been essential, and it was very important for me to see her on the screen in the key moments of the story. Zsuzsa Cinkoczi's character is simple, but strong personality.
I haven't worked with Eniko Eszenyi before, but while writing the screenplay I knew already, that she is the perfect person to play Anna Kethly. To play someone interesting, feminine, independent and strong, the actor has to have the same attributes in some aspects.
A: I do like to work with the same actors in my films. Lili Monori's emphatic appearance has been essential, and it was very important for me to see her on the screen in the key moments of the story. Zsuzsa Cinkoczi's character is simple, but strong personality.
I haven't worked with Eniko Eszenyi before, but while writing the screenplay I knew already, that she is the perfect person to play Anna Kethly. To play someone interesting, feminine, independent and strong, the actor has to have the same attributes in some aspects.
Adel Kovats is thrilling by playing Kethly's antagonist. Erno Fekete is the male protagonist in the film, not very well known, but also a great talent.
Plot: Hungary's most influential emigre politician, Anna Kethly fought dictatorship in her whole life. A young historian-turned-agent from Budapest is given the task to entice her to return home. History, adventure and love entwine to create a compelling end enjoyable story of everyday betrayals and exceptional fidelity.
Eniko Eszenyi, the award-wining actress is the protagonist of Meszaros's film
Profession
1983 - resident member of the Vígszínház
1991 - guest director of the Budapesti Kamaraszínház
1992 – director of the Vígszínház
1996 – guest director in Prague and in Bratislava, in Warsaw and in Washington
Eszenyi Enikő as a director won the award of the best director of the year on several occasions both at the Hungarian Theatre Festival and at the Critics Special Award.
Profession
1983 - resident member of the Vígszínház
1991 - guest director of the Budapesti Kamaraszínház
1992 – director of the Vígszínház
1996 – guest director in Prague and in Bratislava, in Warsaw and in Washington
Eszenyi Enikő as a director won the award of the best director of the year on several occasions both at the Hungarian Theatre Festival and at the Critics Special Award.
She made her debut with her first production, Leonce and Lena that won seven prizes of the Hungarian Theatre Festival including the best direction and the best production of the season.
The success of this first production recurred in the coming-up seasons: in 1992 West Side Story, which Enikő Eszenyi directed in the biggest theatre of Budapest, in the Vígszínház with an auditorium of 1200 seats won the award of the best direction, and her production of Kate of Heilbronn by Heinrich von Kleist won the award of best production and direction of the year in 1995.
The director Eszenyi Enikő’s unique talent is that she has a special gift to work with actors in a way that will surely be a fascinating and unusual experience for each of them. She has the talent to bring out the hidden potentiality that is inherent in an actor.
Seeing Eszenyi’s production, we will surely admire again and again the brilliant acting, no matter if it is a minor role or a lead. What else could prove this better than the numerous awards that the actors and actresses won after working in Eszenyi Enikő’s productions. With the first production of Leonce and Lena, three actors, Attila Kaszás, Vera Pap and Péter Vallai won the prizes of best actor and actress and best supporting role of the year, while after the production of Kate of Heilbronn, Antal Cserna received the award of best supporting actor at the Hungarian Theatre Festival.
(Source: the information about the actress-director Eniko Eszenyi is from her own website, for more information please visit www.eszenyi.hu)
The success of this first production recurred in the coming-up seasons: in 1992 West Side Story, which Enikő Eszenyi directed in the biggest theatre of Budapest, in the Vígszínház with an auditorium of 1200 seats won the award of the best direction, and her production of Kate of Heilbronn by Heinrich von Kleist won the award of best production and direction of the year in 1995.
The director Eszenyi Enikő’s unique talent is that she has a special gift to work with actors in a way that will surely be a fascinating and unusual experience for each of them. She has the talent to bring out the hidden potentiality that is inherent in an actor.
Seeing Eszenyi’s production, we will surely admire again and again the brilliant acting, no matter if it is a minor role or a lead. What else could prove this better than the numerous awards that the actors and actresses won after working in Eszenyi Enikő’s productions. With the first production of Leonce and Lena, three actors, Attila Kaszás, Vera Pap and Péter Vallai won the prizes of best actor and actress and best supporting role of the year, while after the production of Kate of Heilbronn, Antal Cserna received the award of best supporting actor at the Hungarian Theatre Festival.
(Source: the information about the actress-director Eniko Eszenyi is from her own website, for more information please visit www.eszenyi.hu)
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