Hungary, 1988
Length / My 20th Century:
Blu-Ray (24fps): 103 minutes
DVD (25fps): 99 minutes
Length / Special feature: 27 minutes
Sound /
Blu-Ray:
1.0 Dual Mono LPCM (48k/16-bit)
Sound /
DVD: 1.0 Dolby Mono
Black and white
Original aspect ratio:
1.33:1
Language: Hungarian, German
Subtitles: English
Blu-Ray: BD25
/ 1080 / 24fps / Region ABC
DVD: PAL / DVD9 / 25 fps / Region 0
Blu-Ray RRP: £19.99
DVD RRP: £12.99
Release Date: 20 March 2017
Second Run DVD 115 / SRBD 005
DVD |
Blu-Ray |
|---|
From Ildikó Enyedi (whose latest film On Body and Soul scooped four major prizes - including the Golden Bear - at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival) this magical film spins a tale of twin girls, Dóra and Lili, born in Budapest at the very moment that Edison’s wondrous electric light-bulb is unveiled to the world. Separated in childhood, the sisters’ lives follow radically different paths: one grows up to a naïvely idealistic, bomb-toting anarchist, the other a pampered, hedonistic courtesan – until they meet once again on the Orient Express on New Year’s Eve 1899…
This dazzling film portrays the birth of modernism, a daring world of revolutionary ideas and inventions that promised enchantment and inspired wonder. Shot in luminous monochrome by cinematographer Tibor Máthé, the film echoes the magic and exuberance of early cinema. Celebrating the enthralling technological marvels as well as the political and sexual upheavals of the time, this film reclaims the birth of the twentieth century as a miraculous moment to be alive.
Available on both Blu-Ray and DVD formats, My 20th Century is presented from the brand new High Definition remaster of the film by the Hungarian Digital Archive and Film Institute, supervised by director of photography Tibor Máthé and director Ildikó Enyedi, with special features including an all new interview with the director conducted exclusively for this release by filmmaker Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio; The Duke of Burgundy), and a booklet featuring an essay by author and academic Jonathan Owen.
• Presented from a High Definition re-master and transfer of the film from original materials, under the supervision of director Ildikó Enyedi and cinematographer Tibor Máthé.
• An exclusive, newly filmed interview with director Ildikó Enyedi, conducted by filmmaker Peter Strickland.
• 20-page booklet featuring a substantial new essay on the film by author and academic Jonathan Owen.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• World premiere release on Blu-ray.
Directed by Ildikó Enyedi
Screenplay- Ildikó Enyedi
Director of Photography - Tibor Máthé
Music - László Vidovszky
Editor - Mária Rigó
Production design - Zoltán Lábas
Costume Design - Ágnes Gyarmathy
Main Cast
Dorotha Segda - Dóra / Lili / Mother
Oleg Jankovsky – ‘Z’
Paulus Manker - Ottó Weininger
Péter Andorai - Thomas Edison
Gábor Máté – ‘K’
1989 Cannes Film Festival / Winner: Camera d’Or - Best Debut Feature, Ildikó Enyedi
1989 Edinburgh International Film Festival / Winner: Jury Prize
1989 Las Vegas International Film Festival / Winner: Special Jury Prize; Best Cinematography
1990 Hungarian Film Week / Winner: Foreign Film Critics Award; Best Director; Best Actress; Best Cinematography
1990 The New York Times ‘10 Best Films of the Year’
Voted by critics in the Top 10 Hungarian films of all time
"My 20th Century is a number of wondrous things... a bracing combination of wit, invention, common sense and lunacy. Superb” Vincent Canby, New York Times
“Enyedi's film is a witty, tantalising personal insight into the formative years of this century told with imagination, song and aesthetic devices lifted from silent films" Film Society of Lincoln Center
"A playful, charming first feature" Variety
"Abundant with originality. A beautifully assembled collection of black and white images, it bounds along with the kind of unhampered, lively confidence only an impassioned novice could pull off" The Washington Post
"A beautiful, magic fable set at the turn of the century... Shot in a dream-like black and white and directed by Hungarian Ildiko, the film is altogether enchanting" San Francisco Examiner