East of the West - Competition 2009 / A hetedik kör / Hungary 2009
The film The Seventh Circle, whose title makes a reference to the seventh circle of hell from Dante’s Divine Comedy, tells the story of a gang of rural teenagers who, after the arrival of the mysterious boy Sebestyén, start experimenting to see just how far they can go. This unsettling philosophical drama which steps over the boundary of reality, was based on the motifs of two tragic events which recently occurred in Hungary.
Director Árpád Sopsits’s The Seventh Circle closes a trilogy which follows child and adolescent generations between the years 1957 and 2007 (the first two films in the trilogy are Shooting Gallery, 1989, and Abandoned, 2001). The film, whose title makes reference to the seventh circle of hell from Dante’s Divine Comedy, tells the story of a gang of rural teenagers who, after the arrival of the mysterious boy Sebestyén, start experimenting to see just how far they can go. The priest Gábor, who senses approaching danger, tries to set the children on the right track. In his film, Sopsits questions the presumed innocence of children and also reflects on the significance of faith in God in the modern world. The director himself characterised his work as "an incredibly sad prophecy and presentation of the state of the world.” His unsettling philosophical drama which steps over the boundary of reality, was based on the motifs of two tragic events which recently occurred in Hungary.
107 min / Color, 35 mm
International premiere
Director Árpád Sopsits
/ Screenplay Árpád Sopsits
/ Dir. of Photography Márk Győri
/ Music Péter Erdélyi, Péter Tóth
/ Editor Mari Miklós
/ Producer Pál Sándor
/ Production Hunnia Film Studio
/ Cast Benett Vilmányi, Tamás Erőss, Anna Vicsotka, László Krikkay, Gáspár Mesés, Tekla Magyar, Gábor Gavallér, Zsolt Trill, Imre Csuja
/ Contact National Film Institute Hungary, Hunnia Film Studio
Árpád Sopsits (b. 1952, Szeged, Hungary) studied at the Hungarian Academy of Theatre and Film in the years 1975-1980. He has written a series of screenplays and successful shorts. His feature debut Shooting Gallery (Céllövölde, 1989) was premiered in the section Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes IFF and won a number of prizes at international festivals. His subsequent films were also highly acclaimed, Video Blues (1992) and Abandoned (Torzók, 2001). His latest film, The Seventh Circle (2009), had its premiere screening during Hungarian Film Week. Árpád Sopsits is also an internationally recognised stage director.
National Film Institute Hungary
Róna utca 174., 1145, Budapest
Hungary
Phone: +36 30 4414465, +36 146 113 20
Hunnia Film Studio
Róna u. 174., 1145, Budapest
Hungary
Phone: +36 1 221 1815
Fax: +36 1 220 8749
E-mail: [email protected]
Annamária Basa
Árpád Sopsits
Film Director
Márk Győri
Director of Photography, Director of Photography
Csaba Papp
Film Institution Rep., PR & Marketing
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