26-01-2010

FNE at Hungarian Film Week: The Gravedigger (A sírásó)

By Dávid Dercsényi

    The Gravedigger is best characterized as an experimental film, as director-photographer Sándor Kardos creates a film interpretation of Rainer Maria Rilke's poem "The funeral of John Mortonson."

    Kardos used a photo finish camera of the sort used at racing finish lines for checking the exact final ranking of runners or horses. This camera doesn't create a familiar representation of space, but offers another approach, which offers a great challenge for the filmmaker and for the viewer. It requires a different techinque in acting, photography, directing. This is Kardos' first feature-length film made with this technique, but he previously used it in two short films.

    The shooting lasted for two weeks, and most of the participants worked for free - the budget was a low HUF 35 million. The Gravedigger was produced by Inforg Stúdió (www.inforgstudio.hu) with producer András Muhi. The film received a MMKA grant of HUF 24 million (www.mmka.hu). M&M Film (www.mmfilm.hu)was the co-production partner.

    {mosimage}cast: Zoltán Mucsi


    director/script/dop: Sándor Kardos,

    book: Rainer Maria Rilke: The funeral of John Mortonson

    editor: Kenéz Mórotz

    co-producer: Ernő Mesterházy, Mónika Mécs,

    producer: András Muhi,

    co-production partner: M&M Film, production company: Inforg Stúdió,

    duration 85 mins

    {mosimage}

    Contact:

    Inforg Stúdió

    Tel. +36 30 639 3383

    www.inforgstudio.hu