In the last film competing at the 51st KVIFF, It’s Not the Time of My Life by renowned filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu, a confrontation between two three-member families takes place in one flat over the course of a single day. During mutual discussions, the precisely portrayed characters are able to grasp the essence of the dysfunctionality that is damaging their family relationships.
What stood behind the choice of the minimalist setting was revealed by the director at the press release: “A year before shooting the film I wrote a play, and the screenplay is almost identical to its text. The budget was tiny – I don’t think there exists any film with such a small budget. Other than us sitting here, almost all crew members were my students from the Metropolitan University in Budapest. Thanks to that, we had a total of thirteen cameramen. It’ll be an interesting sight when we step out in front of the audience to take a bow,” said Hajdu with a smile. Hajdu not only directed the film, but also acted in it. Other actors included his wife Orsolya Török-Illyés and their children.
The film also touched upon topics that the spouses were themselves dealing with extensively at the time: “We have no boundary between what is too personal. We discuss each thing as much as it deserves. Our life served only as an inspiration. A number of motifs and topics that we were also dealing with at the time – such as raising the children and living abroad – appeared in it. Otherwise, the film is composed of the stories of other couples.”
Hajdu is not so sure whether his independent film will make its mark in Hungarian cinemas: “We don’t have such an enviable network of arthouse cinemas as the Czech Republic does. Whether the film will be a hit is a bit of a lottery. We will at least begin distributing the film in the same spirit as it was shot: we will open up our flat and screen it to a few people.”
