Director Endre Hules' New Film: The Maiden Danced to Death

Endre Hules, a panelist for SEE FEST’s Filmmakers Panel at our last annual business conference, can only be described as an incredibly talented writer and director. His career, which spans several decades and hails innumerous triumphs, now includes his newest film The Maiden Danced to Death – a beautifully woven tapestry of a film that depicts a rival between two brothers over a dance that will save their careers, and a woman they both love.

Born and raised in Hungary, Hules studied music and acting at the Cellar Theatre in Budapest and started writing plays and directing them at 17. He went on to graduate from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts as a director, dipping his feet television and radio before moving to Paris and then New York, teaching acting, writing, and directing at conservatories, universities and workshops on three continents.  Soon he moved to Los Angeles to make films, and ended up acting in several dozen Hollywood movies and television shows. He has funded his films with the support of companies and grants in ten different countries, won numerous festival awards, as well as audience and jury awards. To add to his repertoire, The Maiden Danced to Death went on to win 24 awards at various film festivals, including Winner at the Los Angeles Movie Awards (2012), and Best Actor at the Hungarian Film Week (2011).

The Maiden Danced to Death features a complex plot riddled with references from communist-era Hungary, that fades between dance and music as the main character Steve attempts to smooth over the ripples of his past. Steve, a dancer-turned-dance-impresario returns to his native Hungary after a 20-year absence. The Communist regime that expelled him is gone, his former apparatchik father has retired in disgrace, but his younger brother, Gyula still works in the same run-down studio with the same cash-strapped dance company they both started out in - and he is married to Steve's former sweetheart, Mari. The two brothers decide to revive their last project together, a dance piece based on the old ballad, The Maiden Danced to Death. If Gyula makes it to Steve's exacting standards, Steve can take it on a world tour, reviving the sagging careers of both.

By all means, if you have a chance to watch The Maiden Danced to Death, please do. The impressive choreography of Zoltán Zsuráfszky with The Honvéd Dance Theater, and the original score alone will leave you captivated, and Hules’ plot surely will leave you with something think about for days.

The Durres International Film Festival: An Impressive Program

Imagine you are traveling through Albania this month, exploring the luscious country side and enjoying the captivating Adriatic Sea and you are able to attend the 5th Durres International Film Summerfest. Wouldn’t that be the most glorious vacation imaginable? Happening August 26^th the 30th, the Durres International Film Summerfest offers an impressive lineup of films that aims to establish cultural connections between Albania and other Balkan countries. Showing films at an Ancient Roman Amphitheatre and by the beach, festival goers will have the opportunity to have a cinematic experience exposed to the elements. 

Durrës, the second largest city in Albania located on the central Albanian coast, lies about 33 km (21 mi) west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically important cities of Albania, situated on the Adriatic Sea opposite of the Italian ports of Bari and Brindisi.

This year the festival will offer a section called International Documentary Programme and the Short Film. The official competition will consist of 8 films selected among the most significant recent productions and 6 films in the Balkan World Section, recent productions from the region. This year the festival will also feature two new sections for best Albanian Short Film Students focusing on films produced in Albanian film schools, and  Close Encounters focusing on French film. Whether you can make it to Albania for the International Film Summerfest or not, if you follow the lineup you are sure to gain a cinematic experience worth exploring.

Kazakhstan: Montage of Cinemas: Why You Must Attend The Last Night

 I’m going to be blunt: if you haven’t already you must go to the closing day of the Kazakhstan: Montage of Cinemas - Film & Cultural Festival.  I know you think your schedule is packed full of important work related, droning activities. I know you have kids, dogs, and assistants that need constant attention, and you don’t know how on earth you could drop all of these things for a little Eastern European film. Luckily for you, I’m here to tell you that you too can learn the art of procrastination, the joy of ditching work, school, your parent’s birthday party, for this extremely important cultural event.  

Kazakhstan, a large and ethnically diverse country centrally located in Eurasia, formerly colonized by Russia, has grown exponentially its film industry since Sacha Baron Cohen’s controversial mocumentary Borat hit theaters in 2006, profiling the comical experiences of Kazakh journalist’s first trip to America. Despite the controversial and problematic aspects of Borat, Kazakhofficials have since thanked Sacha Baron Cohen for the influx of tourists that Borat has attracted to the nation. With a little help from Borat’s success, but more importantly because of the dedication of Kazakh independent filmmakers striving to make it on the international film scene, Kazakhstan has a small but lively film industry. The films coming out of Kazakhstan exude cultural and historical potency.  They tell stories that speak of Kazakhstan’s rich past and vivid present. 

From Slambek Tauekel's The Promise Land

Being shown to non-VIP attendees at 7:30 pm tonight, The Promised Land, directed by Slambek Tauekel, depicts the tale of more than a million innocent people were forcibly deported to Kazakhstan in the 1930s, contributing to the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of the land and truly making Kazakhstan the country it is today.  

If you miss out on tonight’s last evening of Kazakh film, I can guarantee you that tomorrow morning you will have wished that you had just taken the night off and watched The Promised Land. Yes, you’ve already missed out on the opening night reception that was co-hosted by world-renowned Hollywood actor, Armand Assante, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still be a part of a festival that truly boasts the complexity and beauty of Kazakhstan. 

 Tonight’s screenings are being shown at 7:30pm at:

Directors Guild of America
7920 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Screenings are free, and parking is complimentary

10th Annual Summer Academy Film Showing at the Goethe-Institut LA

From Thomas Stuber's graduation film "Of dogs and horses" 

If you’re in the Los Angeles area and enjoy good film and company, on August 22^nd at 7 pm students from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg of Germany will conclude the 10^th Annual Summer Academy at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and show friends and patrons their work over the past year.

The Filmakademie, founded in 1990 and located in a media center in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart, produces talented filmmakers through their hands-on filmmaking and close working relationships to the industry. About 250 films of all genres and formats with top rankings on international festivals are being produced every year by teams of students enrolled in scriptwriting, directing (documentary film, fiction film, advertising film, tv journalism), cinematograhpy, editing, animation, series formats, interactive media, production, filmmusic / sound design, motion design, and production design.

Most notable, Thomas Stuber's graduation film "Of dogs and horses" won second place in the 2012 International Student Academy Awards .

Address: Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Date: August 22^nd, 7 pm

For more information please call:  +1 323 5253388