Hungarian film by Lili Horvát among 2021 Oscar contenders

Hungarian film “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” is among the contenders for the BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATUREs in the 2021 Oscars

The “save” is gone from the executive committee, and 15 films will be named to the shortlist on the 9th of February. With that, this leaves things wide open for any of the countries to make a play. Some films seemed tailor-made for “the save,” and now their chances could be in jeopardy. How much global representation will we see across the seven continents?

“Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” (Hungarian: Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre) is a 2020 Hungarian drama film directed by Lili Horvát. It was selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.

The Plot

Márta, a forty-year-old neurosurgeon, falls in love. She leaves her shining American career behind and returns to Budapest to start a new life with the man. But the love of her life claims they have never met before.

Critical acclaim

“Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time,” a wonderfully mysterious new film from Hungarian writer-director Lili Horvát, is about a number of different things. At first glance, it appears to be a strange, noirish tale of love and misunderstanding, in which a missed connection and an unrequited attraction threaten to spiral into a full-blown obsession. – says Justin Chang film critic for Los Angeles Times.

The film had already been invited to Toronto, and fortunately the coronavirus epidemic did not affect either shooting or distribution.

“It looks like our film will travel around the world, but it’s not true that the epidemic won’t intervene, as we won’t be able to accompany some of the festivals because of this. It is a great pleasure to have been there in person at least at the beginning of the trip, in Venice. We didn’t want to postpone the Hungarian show – it is not yet clear when it will be possible to go to the cinema again with the old serenity, and the film is now about international performances. We hope that the mandatory wearing of masks and other precautions taken by theaters and cinemas will convince the public that culture can be consumed safely even during a pandemic.” – said Lili Horvát, the director of the movie.

“Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” is the second major feature film by Lili Horvát after the award-winning “Children of Wednesday” (2015). The romantic drama was made with the support of the Hungarian National Film Institute with 354 million forints. The cinematographer is the director’s old co-creator, Róbert Maly, who, in addition is the cinematographer of the Oscar-winner “Sing”. In the main roles of the film we can see Natasa Stork and Viktor Bodó, in other roles we can see Andor Lukáts, Zsolt Nagy and Benett Vilmányi.