Ten European feature films will compete for the award for the best production design

13.10.2021.

The Alexandre Trauner Art / Film Festival (ATAFF) kicks off on October 12, where production designers are awarded in the feature film competition program. Ten European films compete in Szolnok.

One of the most promising works in the program of European competition films is the dark thriller, HINTERLAND, set in 1920, which depicts Vienna after the collapse of the Monarchy. Oscar-winning director Stefan Ruzowitzky’s latest film is made with bluebox technology, with amazing images and backgrounds inspired by 1920s set by Dr. Caligari.

An English horror film with an oppressive atmosphere and intense colors also competes for the award for best visual designer. Edgar Wright’s genre film, LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, is about a hallucinating journey of a young girl and a mysterious figure in London in the ’60s.

The world premiere of Kornél Mundruczó's film EVOLUTION was in Cannes, the film can be seen by the general public in Szolnok for the first time. The film is about the three-generation impact of the trauma caused by the Holocaust.

A gloomy PINOCCHIO film is also in competition. From Carlo Collodi’s - by no means child-friendly - story from 1883 Italian director, Matteo Garrone made a dark adaptation, primarily for adults. Interestingly, in the film, Oscar-winning Italian actor Roberto Benigni plays the puppet maker Gepetto, while in a 2002 family comedy version he played the protagonist himself, Pinocchio.

VALLEY OF THE GODS presents us with the struggle of a billionaire and the Navajo community, contrasting ancient traditions and religion with the material perception of the modern age. Lech Majewski’s sci-fi drama presents three intertwined stories through the world’s richest man, a middle-class writer and the Navajo community. Starring two-time Oscar winner John Malkovich.

Dark comedy is also included in the repertoire from the first film by Polish director Daria Woszek. The protagonist of the story is Mary, who is on the verge of menopause, collecting statues of the Virgin Mary, who starts behaving more and more strangely after her gynecological examination. MARYGOROUND competes with its surreal visual world in Szolnok.

Michael Venus, also a first-time filmmaker, features and connects the genre of horror with the concepts of home, nationality and family in the movie SLEEP.

This year’s ATAFF feature film competition program includes a new film by Italian Claudio Cupellini, adapted from Gipi’s comic of the same name and set in the post-apocalyptic future. THE LAND OF THE SONS could be a successful European piece of the genre in which human civilization has come to an end. The film, which was photoraphed by Gergely Pohárnok, was shot at disused power plants.

This year’s Estonian film, THE LAST ONES, which has a chance to win the Oscars, will also be launched for the Best Production Design Award. We can expect a real Lapland western, with a critique of capitalism, the director is Veiko Öunpuu.

HAVEL - directed by Slávek Horák - a film about the opposition era of modern Czech history and the iconic figure of world politics will also be shown. The Czech drama focuses on VáclavHavel’s turbulent private life and also plays a dominant role in the fight for truth and good cause.

The films will be judged by a jury of international filmmakers: Jean Rabasse, an Oscar-nominated French production designer who was the set designer for Jackie, starring Natalie Portman. The British Peter Webber is the director of the HBO series Six Feet Under, whose first film is The Girl with Pearl Earring starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. Dávid Géczy, film director, screenwriter, whose Academy of Music clips won the Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Silver Dolphin at Cannes in addition to the Red Dot in Berlin.

The members of the jury will also hold master classes during the festival, about which information can be found at the following link: Masterclass, Workshop.