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I would like to welcome the listeners who are listening to the podcast of Index Cultural Rolta.I am Péter Alvarez, the editor of Index Cultural Rolta, and my guest today is Ferenc Török, director of Balázs Béla's film.Hi, Feri!Hi!
Speaking of which, we are talking about making a documentary about the Fészek Club.How did you come up with the idea of making a documentary about the Fészek Club?
I have already written about the movie, but now I am making a documentary.I am currently editing it, fortunately.We shot it for 3-4 days, then we stopped for a while, then we shot a bit more, and now it is in the editing room.
For now, it only takes half an hour, I still have to shoot it. I don't know what the end will be.It's not a documentary film.It's a reconstruction of an event in the 1930s.It's about an event in the life of a theatre.
It's about an event in the life of a theatre.It's about an event in the life of a theatre.It's about an event in the life of a theatre. and there are also game elements in it, and that's how the whole thing is formed.
So it may be more of a game movie at the end, or at least that's what it's aimed at.But obviously, it's an essay about what I know about fairies, or what I think is important, and it's not more of an introduction, but more of an atmosphere film.
And why exactly this event, what you are dealing with, this fundraising, which was the focus?What makes this event special?Well, first of all, I wanted to make a fictional film,
I was planning a TV movie or a game about a certain character whose life is a very important moment, and I got to this point during the research.
And then the story turned out to be a documentary, and I stuck to this movement, which I'm trying to develop.So this is just an apropos to tell the whole story,
and not from the present, but from the 30s, so from the period when the nest worked best, I think, because in the 50s and 60s it was again very big, and then since the 90s it's a bit like it doesn't work that well anymore, and we all hope that once again,
Of course, it will be very difficult, but this film is also about the distance from that time and how different our present is, and this anachronism also appears in the whole thing.
So there are a lot of archive recordings from the past in black and white, we also shot in black and white, but the present is colorful, and this is the contrast that makes the film so dramatic.
And if you had to draw a parallel between the Hungary of the 1930s and the present-day Hungary, what similarities would you draw attention to as a film director?
I am at my lowest right now, and I mostly deal with music, not historical events.I am in February of 1936, and I listen to movies, photos, music related to that.What you are at home or in the world at that time,
There are a lot of analogies, so I'm looking for when I hear a feeling in contemporary jazz, or in electronic music, the connection back to that time.
Anyway, in visual art, Fészek was basically an art club, where writers, painters, sculptors, musicians gathered, and they actually partied, but not just parties, but there were events, birthday parties, And it's a bit like a wall sunroof.
But it's not like a snowy day, like on a photo wall sunroof, but rather the space, the club, because the building stands, and it's a bit like we're moving into the building in a video game.So the space...
they give the basis of a picture and we work on it.So architecture is very important.
Of course, I didn't mention the architects, but they were also members of the club, and that's why they were built so professionally and beautifully, and for all kinds of special occasions, some spaces, and the functions of these are also given, in fact, the dramaturgy.
Javicski, if I'm not mistaken, Fészeklub has been around for 123 years now, right?It's been around since 1901, yes.
And, in fact, it can be said that it's been around for a long time, although there are still visitors, and there have always been. And it was an independent institution, so it was always an individual owner, and it operated separately.
Of course, there are problems with that, so it is very difficult, but as far as I can see, there is only a chance for it to survive. Fészek ami volt, vagy azzá váljon újra?
Ha már ezt, igen, ezt elhoztad föl, én is felszerettem mondani, akkor öntsünk már tiszta vizet a pohárba, hogy aki ma ellátogat a Dob utca, Kertész utca sarkára a Fészek klubba, az ott mivel találkozik egyrészt, másrészt pedig hallható, tehát a sajtóban olvasható volt, hírt is adtak róla, hogy hát te vagy a Fészek klub elnöke, vagy voltál elnöke, de hogy itt komoly viszályok voltak.
around the club and in the club, why is this, what is the situation and what does someone meet today who wants to go to the FESEC club.
I really was a member of the board of directors, and even the president, and it was a very difficult situation.The union was in debt, and it had a bad business.I think it was around the 2007 crisis.
Meanwhile, there were big problems with the building.
and they are trying to stay on the side of FESZ, but last year, the situation was so bad that they couldn't pay the bills, and they have to keep up, so there are stands, big buildings, and when there is such a lack of money,
You have to ask for a loan from the bank, or I don't know, for the company to go bankrupt.And it looks like they managed to keep it up.But the question is, is it renovated?
Well, it's not renovated, but what the audience sees on the street corner is that the poor building is in a very bad condition,
But of course, that's the problem of the whole thing, that it works, but there is that inaccessibility, which is obviously trying to be preserved somehow.So that's the broken, but still beautiful and pompous environment.
At the same time, of course, there are events, but after a separate operating unit and the union, It is not necessarily in sync, but maybe from this period there will be such events.
The good news is that the premiere party of Simler Balin's film was there.It was a very good evening in the garden, because there were really people there who were there.
The film was good, and it was good that it didn't rain, and the set worked as I imagined it should.So there are such events, but I can't say for sure.
There are programs there, but the situation is that it was always a bit closed club, so it did not advertise itself outwardly, but there were always internal events, awards, there were nights that were exclusive, so it was not necessarily, how to say, a club that would have advertised its programs outwardly.
And can we say that the internal disputes have been resolved?Or have they subsided?
It's very difficult to talk about internal disputes, because there are three different layers.These are civic layers.These are quite serious issues.They are happening between companies and unions.So these will not be resolved overnight.
But I am confident that I always tried not to be closed in.I wouldn't say I have a positive future, but I hope so.This film is made to help somehow, and maybe to kick one in this situation.
Well, let's look at the future a little bit, if you've already mentioned it.
You haven't made a feature film since 2017, but your last film was in 1945, which was a huge international success, we can say that, domestic and international success, and you haven't directed a feature film since then.
What does it feel like for an actor, how does an actor handle it?Why didn't you direct the film at all?
Well, it's a painful question, of course, but that's the way it is, and I have to accept it, too, because that's where the years go by.
And that's exactly why we started with this documentary film, or at least that's why I really wanted to make a film.
And even now, there was very little money, and it was mostly private money and foreign money, so I don't get any money, that's the way it is.I applied a lot. I didn't get any money from the new film institute, and because of that I lost my interest.
What can you do now?You can't make films anymore.
And do you know why you didn't get any money?Or what did you do?What kind of film plans did you submit that the film institute rejected?
Well, I don't want to list them here, but I came here that we should talk about the future, or about the club.
But the fact that they didn't support my application, it was obviously a TV movie, a game movie, and I don't know, the situation wasn't like that.
And I had to shape my life in such a way that I started thinking that, like the young people, or my teammates, like Hajdussa,
that I'm looking for alternative solutions, and I'm not trying to build the economic part of my project on the film institute or the Hungarian financing, which is difficult, because... I would like to ask, if we look at things from the perspective of the future, what are these alternative ways?
roads that an actor can take in Hungary, if he simply doesn't get support from the Film Institute.So what do you have to do?Or what can you say to your fellow actors and directors in this situation?
And let's not forget, you didn't really answer the question why you didn't get support, considering your previous successes.Well, there is no answer to that.There is one.
Email, after a long month, and it turns out they didn't support me.There's no reason why they didn't.I don't meet any people, so they didn't support me.Maybe they expect me to apply 10 or 15 times, or I don't know.I applied at the 8th.
It's very difficult to put together these contests.You have to work with these producers and with foreign investors.And obviously, where there's no Hungarian money, there's no foreign investors.So these are very difficult cases.
But you can't do anything.There is this, but then you have to make a film. You have to find a producer who is able to bring foreign or private money from the market for a lower price. I would like to think about other circumstances, if I want to.
I am a student at the university, and I have projects, my previous works and films, which I still have to think about.
I live for my children, or I don't know, I travel, or I start something completely different, which is not so much money, so I either go to a social worker, or a photographer, or I invent something crazy for myself, but I would like to make films, and I have always dealt with this.
So now I'm trying to do it in this minimal form, but it's really liberating and I really enjoy it.It's just hard to get used to it.I'm 53 years old now, so I have to pay the staff, so I can't call them.
I've been making my films professionally so far. What do you say to your students who want to be film directors, screenwriters, filmmakers? Well, I try not to talk about making money, but about directing and the profession.
It's a learning profession, where we have to talk about the camera and the film language at a university, and I don't touch it.
I think I take the example of the students, or the energy, because they don't have any money, and we didn't have any when we started.
And exactly the same way, or the Simler, or Reis Gábor's pattern deserves strength, because yes, you can make a movie like that.
There are a lot of independent films made from the money or love of friends in the past, but also in the early 60s, so it's difficult, very difficult.
But I can imagine that one of your students goes to you and says, teacher, how can I direct a film?And then I think you could show them an example of Reis Gábor or Simler Bálint.Yes, but very proudly, moreover.
So it's good that, for example, these films and music are doing well, and not only do they win big awards at festivals,
He didn't reach the Hungarian audience.It's not like he's making a film that he can't give anything away, he just doesn't get paid.
If you condition yourself to this, but it was very difficult for us, because, let's say, for 20 years I've been on the road, if not always, but somehow I got it, if not a lot, but at least I was able to plan in advance.
And, you know, that's why it basically ended in the last 6-8 years.
Okay, a little bit more about the future.If you've put in so much effort, it means that you have a lot of movie plans in mind, which you would like to realize.If you had to choose one, which production would it be?
Well, it's a very difficult question.
Which hand?Which finger should I bite?
It's a difficult question.Well, I've dealt with the story of Alfred the Sailor the most.That's where most of my work is.The title of my work was The Dolphin, and that was the story of Alfred the Sailor at the end of the 1890s.
Well, I think it's a story that we should be able to tell, even if we think of ourselves as Hungarians or Hungary, so it's a very strong story.And of course, since it's costumed, it's expensive, so you can't afford it.
So I'm not sure I'd say that, but in my heart, that was the best, and it could be the biggest internationally.The Olympic story is in it, it's interesting.
And the end of the 19th century, I think, is so unsophisticated, and the things are mixed up there, although it is a magical era, this millennium and the age ahead, and especially culturally, for example, the film, for example, is discovered then.
and the electricity, so there is a lot of excitement in it, which is good for the era itself.And you don't have to make a very expensive film or imagine it.Of course, you can do that too. In 1945, we made a costume film for 400 million forints.
You can't make a costume film for 7 billion forints, you can make a costume film for 1 billion forints.
And what caught you personally in the story of the ship?What made you start developing a screenplay or follow the story more closely?
Obviously, I also look for stories.When I work with Helta Jenő or Gál Béla, the director of the film, about the 30s, the age of fairy tales, I always look for their life stories.I mixed it up with Hajós, too, in this story.
First of all, he is the architect of Sportus.And before that, he won the first Olympic gold medal for Hungary.So these two are a kind of magic to me, that you build and you swim.
And like Budapest, the fact that swimming, success and the Danube and all the mysticism that surrounds it, it's fantastic.And it's a classic.Andy Weiner always said,
star stories, so when the star is born, so that the boy you wouldn't think of at all, he doesn't come together until the last moment, but in the end he comes together.So the simple Rocky story, for example.
So this sports film is also in it, which is an exciting genre, which is not so much a film genre as, say, Western, or Crimean, or I don't know, but sports movies, you can tell a good drama about it, and that's also in it.
Do you watch the movies that the NFI supports?
For example, Have You Ever Seen It Now?
I didn't see that.The only thing I know about it is that my daughter was obliged to watch it, so I paid the price of a ticket indirectly.
The other thing is that I think it was on a TV, when the August 20th fire game was on, I turned on the TV and switched it on, and then the other ad went on, and then I watched it.So I saw two or three signs of it.
It's a difficult opinion.I don't even want to say my opinion.
Thank you very much to the listeners for being with us.
Please subscribe to our channel, to our social media.I was Péter Alvar, and our guest today was Ferenc Török.I wish you all the best.Bye!
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