03/12/2024 - Niké Kurta and Levente Orbán lead the cast of the Hungarian director’s first feature film, produced by CineSuper

Actors Niké Kurta and Levente Orbán on the set of Distance (© Bori M Papp/CineSuper)

Attila Dávid is leading a three-phase film shoot in Budapest which is unfolding across four seasons, having kicked off in October and being due to wrap in May, on the occasion of his debut feature film Distance (Távolság).

Stealing focus in lead roles are Niké Kurta (recently well-received in Warsaw in Tomorrow I Die [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and hitting screens next year in Hyenas) and Levente Orbán (notably at his best in Ravine and seen last year in Mastergame and On Human Touch), who are joined by veteran actor György Cserhalmi (crowned Best Actor in Hungarian Film Week in 1987 and 2005, nominated for the Czech Lion for Best Actor in 1995 and 2004, and recently seen in In the Face of Gravity [+see also:
film review
film profile]), Éva Kerekes (named Best Actress in 1997 and well-received in works such as Comrade Drakulich [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Márk Bodzsár
film profile] and Final Report [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: István Szabó
film profile]), István Znamenák (Explanation for Everything [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gábor Reisz
film profile]), Abigél Szőke (Those Who Remained [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Lajos Kovács (Semmelweis), Júlia Mentes (also gracing Semmelweis) and Anna Mészöly (awarded the Leopard for Best Acting Performance in Locarno’s Cinéastes du Présent section thanks to Lesson Learned [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bálint Szimler
film profile]).

Written by the director himself, the story revolves around thirty-somethings Péter and Eszter who have lost their child. But this tragedy seems to have created an even greater distance between them, rather than bringing them closer together. Their emotional distance also manifests itself on a physical level, and we learn that Eszter has been diagnosed with leukaemia. With the chemotherapy impacting her bone marrow, her immune system starts to fail and she is placed in isolation in hospital. Her illness and isolation result in a temporary bridge between Péter and Eszter, and they try to make this difficult situation more bearable by reconnecting. Péter supports his wife in everything, and when he sees how challenging hospital life is for her, he sets about building an isolation room on their farm so that she can recuperate at home. But the room he builds ends up worsening her state of mind. Despite the warmth of their home, Eszter’s confinement has an increasingly negative affect on her, sending her into a downward spiral…

Produced by Virág Baranyi, Ádám Farkas and Zoltán Mártonffy on behalf of CineSuper, Distance has benefited from the National Film Institute Hungary’s Incubator programme. The film will enjoy a total of 29 days of filming, with Zoltán Dévényi (Curtiz [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Six Weeks [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Noemi Veronika Szakonyi
film profile]) heading up photography and Zsófi Tasnádi as production designer.

For the record, CineSuper recently oversaw Bálint Szimler’s Lesson Learned, which won a Special Mention as well as clinching an acting award (see above) in last summer’s Cinéastes du Présent section of the Locarno Film Festival. 

(Translated from French)