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Liza, the Fox-Fairy

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Liza, the Fox-Fairy
Theatrical release poster
Liza, a rókatündér
Directed byKároly Ujj Mészáros
Written byKároly Ujj Mészáros
Bálint Hegedűs
Based onLiselotte és a május
by Zsolt Pozsgai
Produced byIstván Major,
Csanád Darvas
(as associate producer)
StarringMónika Balsai
Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas
David Sakurai
CinematographyPéter Szatmári
Edited byJudit Czakó
Music byDániel Csengery
Ambrus Tövisházi
Production
company
Filmteam
Release date
  • 19 February 2015 (2015-02-19)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryHungary
LanguageHungarian
Budget$1.5–1.6 million[1]
Box office$$532,381[2]

Liza, the Fox-Fairy (Hungarian: Liza, a rókatündér) is a 2015 Hungarian black comedy film directed by Károly Ujj Mészáros, starring Mónika Balsai, Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas and David Sakurai. The film drew an audience of over 100,000 in Hungary.[3]

The film's music was elected as one of 2015's "catchiest soundtracks" in Hungary[4] and four songs were recorded on a limited 7-inch vinyl.[5]

Plot

[edit]

Liza is a 30-year-old, naïve, lonely nurse living in "Csudapest",[note 1] the capital of a fictionalized 1970s Hungary with a capitalist system. She has taken care of Márta, the widow of the former Japanese ambassador, for the last 12 years. Taking inspiration from a cheap Japanese romance novel, on her 30th birthday, Liza goes to a Mekk Burger restaurant in hopes of falling in love. While she’s away, Márta is killed by Liza's only friend, Tomy Tani, the ghost of a Japanese pop singer from the 1950s, resulting in Liza inheriting her apartment. Relatives report Liza to the police for murdering Márta. Sergeant Zoltan is put on the case, who gets very nearly killed in the process, and falls slowly in love with Liza after moving into her apartment as a flatmate. She gains confidence, but all her dating efforts end in fatal accidents. Liza is convinced that she has become a fox-fairy, a demon from Japanese mythology. According to the legend, men who fall in love with a fox-fairy die soon afterwards, and the fox-fairy is doomed to be alone forever.

Cast

[edit]
Mónika Balsai
David Sakurai
Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas
  • Mónika Balsai as Liza, the Fox-Fairy
  • David Sakurai as Tomy Tani
  • Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas as Sergeant Zoltán
  • Piroska Molnár as Márta, the widow of a Japanese Ambassador to Hungary
  • Zoltán Schmied as Henrik
  • Antal Cserna as Károly
  • Gábor Reviczky as police Colonel
  • Mariann Kocsis as Hildácska
  • Ági Gubík as Inge
  • Lehel Kovács as Mr. Ludvig
  • Győző Szabó: Mr B., or Jonny[6]
  • János Bán as Heartbreak
  • István Hajdu as Ferenc, a manager[7]
  • László Nádasi as staff sergeant
  • Sándor Szűcs as police doctor
  • Nóra Diána Takács as Police Secretary
  • Dezső Rancsó as chimney sweeper
  • Vali Dániel as Teri
  • Zsuzsa Töreky as Edit
  • Mária Bókay as Vilma
  • István Gőz as Dr. Keserű
  • Kata Bartsch as Kriszta
  • Klára Jarábik as Orsi
  • Rodrigo Crespo as Orsi's husband
  • Batjav Batod as Eskimo
  • Zoltán Karácsonyi as Teleshop Giovanni
  • Katalin Kiss Horváth as Johnny's daughter
  • Orsolya Mihály as Mekk Burger's salesgirl
  • Andrea Balázs as sick-nurse
  • Katalin Ben as Malvinka
  • Kata Losonczi as Timi
  • Gyöngy Bérces as Cosmo cover girl
  • Gábor Harsányi as Narrator (voice)

Production

[edit]

The film is based on the play Liselotte és a május by Zsolt Pozsgai.[8] The Japanese theme was added by Károly Ujj Mészáros, who was fascinated by Japanese culture, especially pop music from the 1960s and 1970s. He was also attracted by similarities between Japanese and Hungarian traditions. He had directed several commercials in Japan, which gave him further familiarity with Japanese culture.[9] The film was produced by Filmteam with co-production support from Origo Film Group. The budget was 420 million forint (~1.6 million USD), of which 220 million came from the Hungarian National Film Fund.[1] The cast rehearsed for a month before filming started.[9]

Release

[edit]

The film was released theatrically in Hungary on 19 February 2015. It was also screened at various film like Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal) on 2 March 2015 and Seattle International Film Festival (USA) on 25 May 2015.[10]

Awards

[edit]
- Silver Scream Award, Méliès d’Argent for the best European fantastic film[11][12]
nominated for Golden Méliès[13]
- The audiences top-3 of the festival[14][15]
- 7th Orbit Award for Best Film (haven’t already been presented at Brussels and have been produced in the last two years, attributed by a national jury of professionals)[16][17]
- The Pegasus Award, Prize of the Audience[16]
- "Paul Naschy" Award[20](Best Film)
- Best Director
- Best Play: Actor (Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas) and Actress (Mónika Balsai)
- Best Screenplay[note 2]
- Best Special Effects[note 2]
- Best Actress (Mónika Balsai)[22]
- Grand Jury Prize, New Directors Competition (Károly Ujj Mészáros)[23]
- Cineuropa Prize, which singles out the best international film hailing from the Danube countries[25][26]
- Audience award 2nd Place[27]
- Siren Award for best international film,
- Audience Award for Best Feature
- Audience Award for Best Feature[30]
- Audience Award for Best Feature
- Best Film "Hungarians in Hollywood" Award: Károly Ujj Mészáros[32]
- Best Actress Award jury prize: Mónika Balsai[33]
- Audience Award for New Narrative Feature[34]
- Grand Prix (2015)[36]
  • 54th Hungarian Film Critics Award - Budapest
- Best First Film of 2015 (Károly Ujj Mészáros)[37][38]

Adaptation

[edit]

An Indian adaptation of the film, titled Aafat-E-Ishq, was released on October 29, 2021.[39]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ A portmanteau from csuda (or csoda) ’miracle’ and Budapest, the capital of Hungary
  2. ^ a b (ex aequo with the US-Canadian film Exeter)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Nagyon szórakoztató a Liza, a rókatündér előzetese" (in Hungarian). Index.hu. 2014-05-27. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  2. ^ "Liza the Fox-Fairy". Box Office Mojo.
  3. ^ "A Liza, a rókatündér már százezer nézőnél tart" (in Hungarian). origo.hu. 2015-04-30. Retrieved 2015-04-30.
  4. ^ Takács Dalma (2016-01-04). "2015 KULTfilmzenéi (TOP 10)". KULTer.hu. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  5. ^ "Liza, the Fox Fairy 7" by Erik Sumo & the Fox Fairies / Limited Edition 7" Vinyl EP (500 copies)". budabeats.bandcamp.com. 2015-12-12. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  6. ^ "Szabó Győző soha nem hagy nyomokat. Werk-interjú a Liza, a rókatündér szereplőivel" (in Hungarian). magyar.film.hu. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  7. ^ "Hajdu Steve talpig úriember. Werk-interjú a Liza, a rókatündér szereplőivel" (in Hungarian). magyar.film.hu. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  8. ^ "Liza, The Fox Fairy at Cinéfondation Workshop". cineuropa.org. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  9. ^ a b Arozamena, Jon (2015-04-23). "Interviews: Karoly Ujj Mészáros • Director". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  10. ^ "Liza, the Fox-Fairy". Seattle International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2015-05-17. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
  11. ^ "Silver Scream Award". imaginefilmfestival.nl. Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2015-04-18.
  12. ^ "Imagine-awards to Hongary and India". imaginefilmfestival.nl. 2015-04-28. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05.
  13. ^ Ard Vijn (2015-04-22). "Imagine 2015: What The Audiences Liked Best". twitchfilm.com. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  14. ^ Ard Vijn (2015-04-20). ""Imagine 2015 Review: LIZA, THE FOX-FAIRY Magnificently Kills With Kindness"". twitchfilm.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  15. ^ "Silver Scream Award rating". imaginefilmfestival.nl. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  16. ^ a b "BIFFF 2015 Awards". bifff.net. 2015-04-19.
  17. ^ "Regulations for long feature films" (PDF). bifff.net. June 2014.
  18. ^ "Premios Festival Nocturna 2015" (in Spanish). nocturnafilmfestival.com. 2015-06-01. Archived from the original on 2016-05-13.
  19. ^ "Liza, the Fox Fairy demolishes the competition at Nocturna 2015". cineuropa.org. 2015-06-01.
  20. ^ "Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival, Nocturna". filmfreeway.com. 2015-06-01. Archived from the original on 2015-09-27.
  21. ^ "Fantaspoa XI Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantástico de Porto Alegre 2015" (in Portuguese). fantaspoa.com. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  22. ^ "Fantaspoa 2015: El Incidente wins best Ibero-America film". Eric Ortiz García. @CinemaMovil_mx (Cross-published on TwitchFilm). 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  23. ^ "2015 Award Winners". siff.net. 2015-06-08. Archived from the original on 2015-06-14. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  24. ^ "CinEmaCity International Film Festival: Awards". cinemacity.org. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  25. ^ Laura Nanchino (2015-07-06). "FESTIVALS Serbia: No One's Child and Barbarians split the honours at Novi Sad". cineuropa.org.
  26. ^ "Cineuropa prize". cineuropa.org. 2015-07-06.
  27. ^ "Announcing The 2015 Fantastic Fest Jury Winners!". fantasticfest.com. 2015-10-01.
  28. ^ "For once in the award giving history of Lund International Fantastic Film Festival the jury and the audience actually did agree on ONE winner! And that winner is... LIZA, THE FOX-FAIRY!". Lund International Fantastic Film Festival Official Facebook page. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
  29. ^ "About the Festival". Monsters of Film webpage. Archived from the original on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  30. ^ "Ok, andningspaus över..." (in Swedish). Monsters of Film Facebook site. 2015-11-02. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  31. ^ "CDFF '15 Audience Award Winners!". cdff.ca. 2015-11-09. Archived from the original on 2015-11-08. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  32. ^ "15. HFFLA Best Film Award". 2015-11-11. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  33. ^ "15. HFFLA Best Actress Award". 15hffla.com. 2015-11-11. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  34. ^ "LIFF29 Audience Award winners announced". leedsfilm.com. 2015-11-20. Archived from the original on 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  35. ^ "Communiqué de presse - 11 Décembre 2015" (PDF) (in French). cinessonne.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  36. ^ "Palmarès 17ème festival du cinéma européen en Essonne" (in French). cinessonne.com. 2015-11-10. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  37. ^ "Nemes Jeles Lászlóé a legjobb rendezésért járó díj és a fődíj is" (in Hungarian). MÚOSz.hu. 2016-01-29. Archived from the original on 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  38. ^ "Megnyertük a legjobb elsőfilmesnek járó díjat!!!". facebook.com (in Hungarian). Liza, a rókatündér - Liza, the Fox-Fairy. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  39. ^ Athulya Nambiar (2 July 2020). "Neha Sharma to play the lead in Zee5's upcoming film Aafat-E-Ishq based on a Hungarian film". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
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