Another Hungarian film success is in the making
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László Csáki’s animated documentary, The Blue Pelican, has been selected by the European Film Academy as one of the best works of recent times, eligible for a nomination for the European Film Award in the documentary category.
The Blue Pelican is a humorous, nostalgic story based on real events about freedom and three good friends who forged international train tickets in the 1990s. The film, made with the support of the National Film Institute, has already been seen by more than 21,000 people in cinemas and is still available in Hungarian cinemas, outdoor cinemas, and open-air screening venues.
The European Film Academy awards the most significant works of the continent’s film art; the prestigious European Film Awards are presented in a festive setting every odd year in Berlin and every even year in a different European city.
From this recently published selection, the Academy members will vote for the nominees for the European Film Award in the documentary category. The 37th awards ceremony will be held in Lucerne, Switzerland, on December 7, 2024.
The first full-length Hungarian documentary made with animation techniques, The Blue Pelican, premiered in Hungarian cinemas at the beginning of April.
It is a system-critical and heist-film-like work, full of contemporary Hungarian hits, that processes the train ticket forgery scandal of the 1990s in an entertaining way.In addition to the real-life characters who speak in their own voices, the film also features the voices of Norman Lévai, Kornél Tegyi, Ágoston Kenéz, Olivér Börcsök, Vivien Rujder, Renátó Olasz, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Gábor Csőre, Nóra Trokán, and Judit Csoma.
The evocation of the post-regime change period is provided by well-known Hungarian cult bands such as Bonanza Banzai, Kispál és a Borz, and Hiperkarma.Csáki, a Balázs Béla Prize-winning writer-director who has won several awards at the Hungarian Film Week and the Kecskemét Animation Film Festival, spent years interviewing those affected whose lives were changed by the international travels they made with train tickets forged with the blue Pelikan carbon paper.
The producers of The Blue Pelican are Ádám Felszeghy and Miklós Kázmér. The cinematographer is Árpád Horváth, the editor is Dániel Szabó, and the composers are Ambrus Tövisházi and Miklós Preiszner.
The film was made with the support of the National Film Institute, produced by Umbrella Entertainment with the professional support of Réka Temple, in co-production with Cinemon Entertainment. The film’s distributor is JUNO11 Distribution.