CHINA Edition
Hungarian Edition
At this year’s Berlinale, Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó returned with his new film At the Sea, a deeply introspective drama starring Amy Adams, exploring inherited trauma, family legacy, and the fragile possibility of how to restart one’s life emotionally following addiction and rehab. During a press conference following Monday morning’s press screening ahead of the film’s evening premiere, which none of the actors were present for, the filmmakers: Mundruczó, screenwriter Kata Wéber and producers Alexander Rodnyansky and Viktória Petrányi reflected on collaboration, artistic risk, and the realities of filmmaking across continents.
At the Sea takes place at a family home in Cape Cod, where Laura (Amy Adams) returns after rehab to face the consequences of her past and a family unsure how to welcome her back. Once defined by her late father’s dance legacy and her own struggles with addiction, she confronts strained relationships, unresolved tensions, the film is an intimate character study about recovery and reconnection.
At the Sea also features Dan Levy, Murray Bartlett, Brett Goldstein, Chloe East, Jenny Slate and Rainn Wilson.
Mundruczó read out a note from the Oscar nominated actress to kick off the press conference: “Thank you to the Berlin Film Festival for hosting the world premiere of ‘At the Sea’ this evening, and for continuing to support independent filmmaking. Your support is invaluable to me and to independent storytelling around the globe. I’m sorry I’m not there in person, but I know Kornél is representing us very well. I’m extremely proud and deeply moved by the work and my fellow cast members Murray, Chloe, Dan, Jenny, Brett and Rainn. I am forever grateful for the family we formed. Family is at the heart of this film. It was a gift to get to explore the themes of intimacy, legacy and most of all to explore a character at the crossroads of true accountability. To move on and to move forward requires brutal honesty, and I hope you feel that in every frame of the film.”
A Creative Partnership Built on Dialogue
A central pillar of At the Sea is the longstanding creative partnership between Mundruczó and his wife, writer and former actress, Kata Wéber, whose collaboration began during their university years in Budapest and has extended across theatre and cinema over the years. Wéber highlighted the ongoing dialogue that drives their work:
“He’s so great with actors, and every time it takes us to a different path. It never stopped being exciting. That’s one of the reasons we are still in dialogue — we never got bored of each other.”
The film’s thematic exploration of trauma emerged from research into addiction and recovery, but Wéber deliberately avoided familiar genre tropes:
“I talked to many people who decided to go to rehab, and I couldn’t really find two or three reasons why people go. I wanted to come up with a story that was more subtle… saying any of us can get into a situation like that.”
Trauma as narrative and invisible structure
Mundruczó spoke at length about the film’s thematic core — trauma not as a singular event but as an underlying structure shaping a person’s life. In At the Sea, trauma functions both as backstory and as structural principle. Mundruczó described how the protagonist’s fragmented upbringing shapes her inability to connect with others:
“We wanted to express that our main character didn’t really have a childhood… she grew up with a very strong artist father figure. She doesn’t know how to connect to family.”
The film constructs emotional context through atmosphere, choreography and recurring motifs. Mundruczó framed the narrative as both personal and societal allegory:
“It’s a movie about life after death and how you can find a relation back to the beloved ones… somehow also in society we easily lose connection.”
Dance beyond words
One of the film’s most distinctive creative decisions is its integration of dance sequences not as spectacle but as narrative tools. Movement becomes a substitute for dialogue during moments when characters cannot verbally articulate emotions especially in the mother, daughter sequences.
Mundruczó explained the creative rationale:
“We didn’t want Broadway. We wanted something born in front of us… storytelling through movement beyond words.”
Amy Adams’ background as a trained dancer enabled a performance grounded in physical expression. Mundruczó praised her willingness to embrace vulnerability:
“She’s unbelievably gifted… brutally honest. Her performance is unbelievably brave compared to the acceptance of Hollywood these days.”
Financing Independent Cinema in a Shifting Industry
Executive Producer Viktória Petrányi contextualised the project within production realities. Independent dramas, particularly those with international casts, require strong festival positioning and complex financing structures to secure distribution. This is clearly demonstrated in the end credits where 30+ producers and executive producers are listed to have taken part in the project.
While discussing her long collaboration with Mundruczó, Petrányi emphasised continuity as a strategic advantage:
“We’ve been working together for more than 25 years… when they decided to leave the country and look for new adventures, I decided to be there to help transitioning and to be there on this bridge.”
Her comments highlight the increasingly transnational nature of European auteur production, where filmmakers navigate between cultural identities, funding systems and market expectations.
“My primary career was not even producing anymore but just being there supporting… bringing financing whenever I can.”, she added.
Working Across Borders: From Hungary to the US
At the press conference Mundruczó openly addressed the political and institutional factors influencing his career trajectory. Once primarily associated with Hungarian cinema with successes such as his 2014 film White God that won the Prize Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and Jupiter’s Moon (2017) that was nominated for the Palme d’Or, he now works frequently in international contexts — a change driven partly by funding constraints in his home country.
“I never planned to make American movies… but when we applied for funding in Hungary for Pieces of a Woman, it was rejected. So we adapted to America. I’m still doing American movies because I’m not able to do Hungarian movies, which is kind of crazy.”
Pieces of a Woman ended up being Mundroczó’s first English-language debut, competing at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, where Vanessa Kirby won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and subsequently secured an Academy Award nomination for the role.
Such candid remarks reflect broader industry conversations about the mobility of European auteurs and the increasing importance of cross-border collaboration. For filmmakers facing shifting national funding priorities, international co-productions have become both an opportunity and necessity.
Mundroczó who has relocated to Berlin, Germany with his family a few years ago, described differences between European and American production environments:
“In the US there are lots of rules and regulations… you are a much smaller school in the system. In Europe you can get a little more freedom.”
Despite these challenges, the core creative process remains consistent, he noted, emphasizing that filmmaking ultimately revolves around human emotion regardless of geography.
At the Sea was primarily filmed around the beaches of Boston, Massachusetts but also had a small unit filming in Budapest. Though most of the cast and crew were international, At the Sea was edited by Oscar-nominated David Jancsó (for The Brutalist) and Ilka Janka Nagy. A long-term collaborator of Mundruczó, Jancsó edited several of his breakout films—including Pieces of a Woman, White God, Evolution, and Jupiter’s Moon.
VFX services were provided by Budapest based Lampion Pictures for the feature.
An Open Ending and a Search for Renewal
Questions about the film’s structure highlighted its unconventional narrative approach. Rather than traditional plot-driven storytelling, At the Sea prioritizes emotional progression, culminating in what some viewers may interpret as dual endings. Mundruczó described the finale as intentionally open, allowing audiences to project their own interpretations onto the protagonist’s transformation.
“The movie asks for more freedom of interpretation,” he said. “We don’t know what will happen next — but we see her in a different shape, ready for a new chapter.”
Despite its focus on trauma and loss, Mundroczó described At the Sea as fundamentally optimistic. Beneath its melancholic tone lies a belief in the possibility of reconnection — between family members, between artists and friendships.
