The film, based on a dramatic poem by the 19th century Hungarian author Imre Madách, will be released in theatres on December 8.
?Considering that the film is two hours and a half long, I originally intended it for DVD. But the distributor Mozinet insisted on a release in cinemas too,? Jankovics said.
Each scene of the film is drawn in a different style, but Mozart?s Requiem is a recurring theme. Jankovics said he hoped the imagery would help younger audiences understand the archaic text.
?It is my wish is that all children who know The Tragedy of Man as compulsory reading should have this DVD on the shelf, perhaps next to my other films Son of the White Mare, Johnny Corncob and Song of the Miraculous Hind,? the Kossuth Prize-winning director added.
Jankovics completed the film scene by scene, finishing the last ? and most expensive ? one recently.
?The London scene was the most expensive at 140 million forints, so I left it for last. I knew that it would be the longest and I had hoped that once I managed to complete all other scenes, I would somehow get the money for this 28 minutes. The scene progresses from the London Expo in 1854 to the period after World War II. It has a nightmarish sequence which, in a sense, presents the time of my youth and even the present to a certain degree,? Jankovics said.
Jankovics acknowledged the support of State Secretary for Culture Géza Szőcs in completing the film.
?The state secretary for culture personally offered his assistance to complete the film because he wanted to present it on a DVD, with English subtitles, to visiting foreign leaders at the end of Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union,? he said.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
