One of the most successful Hungarian directors of his generation, Szabolcs Hajdu, will be a guest at the 29th Sofia Film Festival in March with his latest film, "Vulture’s Wake". This film completes the trilogy that began with It’s Not the Time of My Life (2016, “Crystal Globe” for Best Film at Karlovy Vary) and continued with Kálmán’s Day (2023) — stories focused on family, friendship, and personal relationships among a group of people who are well acquainted with both the virtues and flaws of each other’s characters. Hajdu’s new film is once again based on a play written by him, centering on a gathering of old friends brought together by the death of one of them. Grief and alcohol ignite long-ignored rivalries, flirtations, and serious conflicts, irreversibly changing everything in their small, closed community. The characters appear weaker, more vulnerable, and capable of hurting each other, while the humor woven into the story becomes increasingly bitter and dark. As a screenwriter and director, Hajdu masterfully portrays through the six characters the realities shaped over time, capturing the inevitable imperfections and compromises characteristic of today’s 40- and 50-year-olds who grew up amidst the sweeping changes of the late 20th century.
The 29th Sofia international Film Festival will feature a retrospective of Szabolcs Hajdu’s works, organized in collaboration with the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Institute Sofia. The festival program in March will include screenings of White Palms (2006), Bibliothèque Pascal (2010), Mirage (2014), It’s Not the Time of My Life (2016), Treasure City (2020), and Kálmán’s Day (2023), all of which will be shown at the Institute’s cinema hall.
Szabolcs Hajdu is a screenwriter, actor, and both film and theater director. He graduated in Film Directing from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest in 2000. Since 2003, he has led numerous workshops and masterclasses on acting and directing at various universities and film forums in Hungary, Portugal, Germany, and Mexico. His debut feature, "Sticky Matters" (2000), won Best Film at the Hungarian Film Week and received the Jury Prize at the Molodist International Film Festival in Kyiv. His film "White Palms" premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and received an Honorable Mention in the "East of the West" competition at the 41st Karlovy Vary IFF. Inspired by Hajdu’s childhood memories and his brother’s professional gymnastics career, the film was later selected as Hungary’s submission for the Academy Awards in 2010. His next film, "Bibliothèque Pascal", debuted at Berlinale and won multiple awards worldwide. It was also Hungary’s official Oscar submission in 2011. Hajdu’s sixth feature, "Mirage", premiered at the Toronto IFF, while "It’s Not the Time of My Life" debuted at Karlovy Vary in 2016, winning the Crystal Globe for Best Film and Best Actor (Szabolcs Hajdu). The film was preceded by its theater adaptation in 2015, followed by two other successful stage productions, "Kálmán’s Day" (2017) and "One Percent Indian" (2019). Hajdu made his directorial debut at the Radnóti Miklós Theatre in Budapest with "Gloria" by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins in 2019. His film "Treasure City" was released online during the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the first Hungarian film to be distributed and promoted entirely through digital platforms. The stage plays "Kálmán’s Day" and "One Percent Indian" were later adapted into films in 2023 and 2024, with the latter retitled as "Vulture’s Wake" and premiering at the Miskolc Film Festival in Hungary. In 2024, Hajdu was invited to serve as the President of the International Jury at the 28th Sofia International Film Festival.
Szabolcs Hajdu will visit Sofia in March 2025 to receive the Special Award of the Sofia Film Festival.
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