FRINGE REPORT

reporting the edge credits Search Fringe Report home | about | news | contents | gossip | photographs | venues | brighton | dublin | edinburgh | film | features | interviews | awards | fashion | recipes | drinks Monday 6 July 09 | newsletter | links | contact FRINGE REPORT AWARDS 2005 www.fringereport.com Sándor Csányi Best Actor - Film Cultural Councillor to the Hungarian Embassy in London, Katalin Bogyay, hosts award party for Budapest heart-throb Sándor Csányi... CONTENTS: Katalin Bogyay Speech Famous Hungarians Sándor Csányi - Kontroll Sándor Csányi - Award Presentation Sándor Csányi - Interview Sándor Csányi - Award Party GOSSIP SUMMARY: London 05 - The People by John Park Sándor Csányi was playing the lead to a packed theatre in Budapest during Fringe Report's 2005 Awards last week, and couldn't come. So instead the Hungarian Cultural Centre (HCC)'s stylish staff fly him to London tonight to pick up his Best Actor - Film award at a party in his honour. In 2004, thanks to Fringe Report (FR) writer and crucial film guru gorgeous Rachael Booth alerting FR to Kontroll's arrival in the UK and giving it the strongest possible recommendation, we reviewed it at its first press screening at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) . A great film, a great actor - whose stunning performance is recognised by the award tonight. There's a speech by the Hungarian Cultural Centre (HCC)'s Director, by Fringe Report's editor, the award presentation, and a live interview with Sándor Csányi - all intercut with clips from Kontroll. Followed - most importantly for the audience mainly consisting of actors and other louche theatricals - by food and an enormous amount of drink. KATALIN BOGYAY - HCC DIRECTOR - SPEECH Katalin Bogyay - the classy and very sexy Director of HCC - welcomes Sándor Csányi on his first London visit, and makes an intriguing parallel between fringe theatre in London with the tradition of political theatre tradition in Hungary. In Hungary, she points out, that tradition has been of major historical importance - as an engine of political change. FAMOUS HUNGARIANS John Park (FR editor) mentions some famous Hungarians who have changed or delighted the world: Simonyi Károly (developed Word & Excel), George Cukor (directed Gaslight, My Fair Lady), Calvin Klein (Hungarian parents), Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan), Béla Bartók (composer), Joseph Pulitzer (Pulitzer Prize), Erno Rubik (Rubik Cube), Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre, Tony Curtis, Zsa Zsa Gabor (actors), Harry Houdini (escapologist), George Soros (financier), Sir Alexander Korda, Emeric Pressburger (film directors), Sir Georg Solti (conductor), Franz Liszt (composer), Robert Capa (war photographer), Joseph Laszlo Biro (invented biro), Albrecht Durer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (artists), Marcel Breuer (architect), David Gestetner (invented duplicator), George Mikes (wrote How To Be An Alien), Eugene Fodor (Fodor’s travel guides), Arthur Koestler (novelist, critic). SÁNDOR CSÁNYI IN KONTROLL (John Park (Fringe Report Editor)): 'And tonight we’re here to welcome another great Hungarian, actor Sándor Csányi.' 'The film Kontroll in which Sándor Csányi plays the main role works on two levels. In one way it’s a very funny story about a gang of ticket-inspectors on an underground railway. They are the Kontroll of the title, and most of them are living in the real world. 'At another level it’s a disturbing inward journey of the soul, specifically for the central character of Bulcsú, played by Sándor Csányi. He is a man trapped not just in the underground, but in the underworld. His reality is the reality of Franz Kafka in The Castle, and The Trial; the reality of Fritz Lang in Destiny and Metropolis. 'I absolutely long to see this actor in a remake of the Kafka titles, and for that matter in a new Nosferatu. Like the vampire, his Bulcsú is a creature imprisoned by the night, bloodied – almost a Christ-like figure. 'Kontroll is written and directed by the astonishing Hungarian director Nimród Antal. It is masterpiece of writing, production, design, casting, photography and direction – a deep, brooding European film noir intercut with riotous comedy. It’s a true masterpiece. 'It’s the script of a lifetime for an actor. But a script is just that – words in waiting. Sándor Csányi takes the script and brings this character - a role that would defeat most actors – to extraordinary life. 'It’s a towering performance, packed with subtlety and a profound ability to do with nuance what lesser performers would ruin with overstatement. It’s not possible, from start to finish, to take your eyes off him. A magnificent performance by a remarkable actor.' SÁNDOR CSÁNYI - AWARD PRESENTATION (John Park (Fringe Report Editor) presents the award to Sándor Csányi): Sándor Csányi - Best Actor - Film. Citation: 'The award reflects Sándor Csányi’s stunning delivery of central character Bulcsú in Nimród Antal's mesmerising film Kontroll. Sándor Csányi evokes Bulcsú’s journey to the heart of darkness with remarkable subtlety, investing the character with a profound soulfulness, inflected with a light layer of wry humour - all powered by an astonishing on-screen charisma.' SÁNDOR CSÁNYI - INTERVIEW Journalist László Heckenast (LH) interviews Sándor Csányi (SC) (FRA05 - Best Actor - Film) in front of live London audience. 23 February 05, Hungarian Cultural Centre (HCC). (SC speaks in Hungarian in the interview below - his replies are shown translated. The text is approximately what was said - and is not verbatim. A couple of the questions are by Fringe Report Editor John Park, shown by (JP). Clips from the film are indicated by 'Clip:') LZ gives an overview of foreign film in London. 'It's difficult to find a way into the London market'. Clip: There's a clip of a scene from Kontroll in which Sándor Csányi's character Bulcsú runs for a very long time along the tracks of the Budapest underground. LZ: 'How many cuts in that scene?' SC: 'The original plan was to do it in one take. But we couldn't run that much in one go. It doesn't look as difficult as it really was! Because the electricity was off, it had to be a diesel engine pulling the camera. The exhaust was at the level of our faces. And there are only two sections of the network that go uphill - Nimród (Antal, the director) chose one of them. We still don't know why we weren't running in the opposite direction (downhill). The surface was very uneven, with lots of small cables. In the end, we ran out of oxygen in the tunnel!' LH: The entire film was shot underground. How many days and nights? SC: It took 39 nights. We could only shoot at night because the underground was operational during the day. LH: How real is this subculture? There's a disclaimer from the Managing Director of the Budapest Transit Company at the start of the film saying that it doesn't represent their inspectors. SC: We experienced ourselves the hatred towards the Hungarian Kontrollers. It's therefore very real. We dressed as them in the day. People wanted to get on (without paying) and we stopped them. JP: The character in Kontroll has an obvious inner life. Did you need to immerse yourself deeply in him, or was it a part you could act straight from the script? SC: The thing I remember is I wasn't doing anything. Clip: There's a clip in which Bulcsú makes his first appearance, lying on the metro platform, his nose bleeding. LH: Kontroll's director Hungarian Nimród Antal was actually born in Los Angeles in 1975 and brought up there. Twenty years later he came to the Hungarian Film Academy, first to study photography, then as a director. This is his first film. Is it difficult to work with a director who has grown up next to Hollywood? SC: In Hungary and particularly in theatre, there's a tendency for a director to press and harass the actor - from which the end result emerges. Nimród had a completely different approach. He complimented me all the time and told me how well I was doing. He told me how favourably I compared to Robert de Niro - and I believed him! I felt he trusted and loved me. It felt much better than being reminded of your errors and faults. LH: This film is the major blockbuster in the recent history of Hungarian cinema. It's done 300,000 so far - the magic figure is 80,000. I saw it in Hungary in an open-air cinema in a summer resort - where they usually only show mega-successes; and it's on DVD. It shows how successful it is. It's being shown in cinemas a year after it's release. What's the reason? It's not a blockbuster at first sight. SC: I've been thinking a great deal about the reasons why it's so much liked in Hungary and abroad. I've come to the conclusion that God loved this film. LH: It's interesting you say that. Kontroll has a symbolism. There is a further reference to that kind of symbolism towards the end of the film. How strongly was that felt during the actual making of the film? SC: There was a quite different approach in the way of thinking about the script and the story by the people making the film: everybody projected it onto their own lives. It was the right way to do it, we felt. When we spoke to Nimród, I think that to him the story was the struggle of his father emigrating to the US, struggling to get established - at the underground level, as it were - which in the end he did. At the end of the film, Nimród dedicates it to his father. To me, the symbolism was that of the harshness and competitiveness of the world above - where you can't survive if you're not the best. If you can't succeed you can only go and live underground, where there is no competition - but you can't live there forever. Once you recover, and defeat fear - you can go to the world above. Clip: Bulcsú meets pretty Sofie (Eszter Balla) - she's on the train dressed as a pink bear. JP: After Bulcsú, a profoundly serious character, will you let us see you next in a light romantic comedy? SC: I'm working along the romantic line at the moment. I prefer working with young directors, especially on their first film. There are two completely different films ahead of me - one is along the lines of Kontroll, and one is completely different. LH: From his film school - one of the next films is Porcelain Dogs. Another is Hungary's answer to Bridget Jones (Péter Bergendy's 2004 film Állítsátok meg Terézanyut! in which SC plays romantic lead David). SC: Yes. LH: SC also plays on stage. To what extent can you preserve that dual stage/film role as an actor in Hungary? SC: In Hungary there is no such thing as a stage actor or a film actor. You can't make a living out of film - so few films are made. You need the certainty and security of the stage. And of course it's more than just a living. Between films I practice professionally. I act virtually every night and create roles. I fly back tomorrow and the day after, I'm on stage. LH: You mentioned that few films are being made? John, I think you had a question about this? JP: Hungary joined the European Union (EU) last year. That's obviously great for the arts in the EU. Will it lead to changes in the arts in Hungary itself? SC: I think it's a different situation. Now our generation has the chance to travel widely in Europe. Chalk Circle Theatre played here at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) and in Paris. There's a new exchange of ideas and influences. LH: Back to Hungarian films. Few films are made. Directors and producers complain in Hungary that there are no funds. Is it any better for actors, or do actors have to complain too? SC: I'm in a very lucky position, especially or in part because of Kontroll. Lots of actors don't for example shoot films for a year. Funds are limited and few films are made. Clip: Elderly train driver Béla (Lajos Kovács) tells Bulcsú a joke. LH: Kontroll is distributed in the UK by the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts). At the moment the print is being shown in Carlisle (a northern British town). It will also be released in the UK on DVD. SÁNDOR CSÁNYI AWARD - PARTY London's Hungarian Cultural Centre (HCC) is known for the outstanding beauty and stylishness of the women (and there are one or two debonaire lads) who work there. They include: Katalin Bogyay (Director), Márta Santarsieri, Gabriella Csatári, Zsanett Hadrévi, László Heckenast, Judit Körös, Enikő Leányvári, Péter Pallai, Adél Stálmajer, many of whom are here tonight. People attending include: Producer and director, lovely Andrea zur Strassen. Critic and writer Phillip Bergson. ICA Acquisitions Consultant - responsible with her colleague for picking Kontroll out in Cannes for the ICA - lovely Mairi Macdonald. Journalist, broadcaster and translator, the urbane and charming László Heckenast, HCC's Film Events Producer. Future Threat director, the recklessly good-looking Scott Alexander Young. Distinguished and charming BBC Hungary Service journalist Daniel Izsak. Pretty architect and film researcher Barbara Chomicka. UKScreen publisher and screenplay writer Dr Husam Asi FR Awards 05 - Best Film Publication (FR Board). Filmmaker Brian Barnes. Unsent Letters (Orange Tree 2004) actor Gerard Bell. Charming sculptor Duart Sylwain. Gregory Slysz. Denes Bulkai. Comedy manager Adrian Bunting. Paul Conlay. Katharina Des Forges (Independent Cinema Organisation). Ace graphic designer Richard Dragun (FR Board). Karin Imthurn (Verve Pictures DVD). Veronika Kuhrner. Ildiko Palocsai. Andrea Puelarjes. Delightful Charlotte Pecsi and Enikő Schönstein. Gerard Hanratty. SandMan (FR Awards 05 - Best Play) director, Fuse Productions stalwart and quietly-spoken sex-symbol Ray Spangler Downing (FR Board). Femme fatale playwright of Spread and Sketching Lucian, Alison Trower (FR Board). Pretty Gabriella Csatári, HCC's Finance Manager. Director and founder of top Edinburgh venue The Pleasance, handsome and distinguished gent Christopher Richardson (FR Board). Doe-eyed fabulous FR writer, arts PR and TV producer Alana Pryce. GTNews publisher, comedy writer Rupert Keenlyside (FR Board). Beautiful Judit Körös, HCC's Librarian. Comedy writer and performer Brian Mitchell. Adorable comedy actress, elegant and lovely Joanna Neary (FR Awards 05 - Best Actor - Theatrical Comedy) (FR Board). Flame-haired temptress, FR writer, doyenne of London comedy producers, Hils Jago. Charming Andi Lustak. Delightful Hungarian actor living in London, Frank Hujber. Pretty Sara Squire, ICA Projects. Lovely Enikő Leányvári, HCC's Literature & Theatre Events Producer, pretty in chic Budapest couture skirt. Guest of honour is delightful actor Sándor Csányi who tonight joins the Fringe Report Board. Everyone at the party wants to meet him (especially the women - we're talking serious matinee-idol-handsome here), and he's completely charming - a really lovely man. He makes a point of staying to the end, and having a friendly chat with everyone who comes over to say hello. The event is hosted by HCC's ebullient and gorgeous director, journalist and broadcaster Katalin Bogyay. John Park report from Hungarian Cultural Centre (HCC) / Wednesday 23 February 05 Hungarian press articles (in Hungarian) (c) Fringe Report 2005 Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2009

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