Bence Fliegauf’s movie won the Silver Bear at the 71st Berlin Film Festival

Lilla Kizlinger received the award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Bence Fliegauf’s latest movie (which he both wrote and directed), in the Forest – I See You Everywhere (Rengeteg – Mindenhol látlak), the jury decided to present Lilla Kizlinger with the Silver Bear at the 71st Berlin Film Festival.

This year, only two such awards were given; one for the Best Lead- and one for the Best Supporting Actor/Actress. This is the 20-year old film school undergraduate’s first role in which she portrays a teenager blaming her father for her mother’s death. “The Forest – I See You Everywhere” lures us into the maze of our everyday lives and nightmarish personal relationships, where the characters try to solve the biggest puzzle of their lives: each other.

The movie is especially relevant during the pandemic, the quarantine, where these previously invisible interpersonal problems and anxieties can easily materialize themselves. Due to COVID-19, the premiers and the awarding ceremony of this highly prestigious film festival will be held in June instead of February.

At his year’s Berlinale only two awards were available for actors: for the best Lead and the best Supporting ones. One of these were received by the supporting actress in Bence Fliegauf’s “Forest – I See You Everywhere”. Incredible, quite strange and fantastic – these were her words as soon as she received the news. The Silver Bear winner currently studies directing in the class of Attila Janisch and Viktor Nagy.

Fliegauf’s new movie – like its previous instalment – revolves around everyday problems and relationship struggles, as the characters try to understand one another. We see six separate stories, but it’s clear that there’s something connecting them together. But what is it? Where does the link come from? Who could be weaving this web? Budapest is too small to keep secrets, the nights are long and there’s much to talk about. As we go deeper into the hypnotic world of the “Forest”, it becomes clear that it’s impossible to decide who’s right. Who deserves punishment, love, acceptance, death or absolution.

Congratulations to Lilla, Bence and of course to the whole crew, for their hard and heroic work! Who could’ve thought that a small independent film like this can come this far? – said producers Ernő Mesterházy and Mónika Mécs. Congratulations to Lilla! I’d like to thank the staff for their persistence and their concentration. If it’s up to me, we’re going to revisit the “Forest”! – added the film’s director, Bence Fliegauf.

The movie was both written and directed by Bence Fliegauf. The film features professional actors and actresses, such as Eliza Sodró, Ági Gubik, Juli Jakab, Zsolt Végh and Eszter Balla. Also making an appearance is the musician Mihály Víg, the nearly hundred-year old István Lénárt, Felicián Keresztes, the lead actor of Dealer, and the director’s son, János Fliegauf. The producers of Fraktál Film’s and M&M Film’s co-production were Ernő Mesterházy, Bence Fliegauf and Mónika Mécs, along with co-producers Ági Pataki and Gábor Kovács. The cinematographers were Mátyás Gyuricza and Ákos Noszoly, the editing was done by Gábor Terence Gelencsér, Wanda Kiss and Dávid Kovács. The movies original score was created by Péter Fancsikai, Tamás Béke and Bence Fliegauf.

Fliegauf’s first motion picture, the “Forest” won the Wolfgang Staudte Award, meant for the Best First Film, his second one, Dealer received the Berliner Zeitung Award in 2004. In 2007, his third movie “Tejút” was selected as the Best Movie of the Locarno International Film Festival thus receiving the Golden Leopard. His 2012 work – produced by Ernő Mesterházy and Mónika Mécs, like his newest one – was honoured with three awards in Berlin; the Jury Grand Prix, the Amnesty International Film Prize and the Peace Film Award.