14/04/2006

The first part of shooting finished last week on Delta, the third feature by talented Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó, whose previous film, Johanna [+see also:
trailer
film profile], was shown in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival (see review).

Mundruczó won a Silver Leopard at Locarno 2002 for his first featurem Pleasant Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and has once again chosen to work with his favourite actress Orsi Tóth, who will head the bill alongside Lajos Bertok, Martin Wuttke and Mari Kiss.

Set in a futuristic world, Delta recounts the misadventures of Michael (Bertok), a young man who attends his father’s funeral in the wild and labyrinthine world of Delta, and who also has a secret mission to accomplish. In a strange village in quarantine, a young girl (Tóth) tries to save the inhabitants of the town and falls in love with Michael who, in fact, turns out to be her brother. And the discovery that their father was actually murdered leads Michael into a merciless struggle against the killer.

Shooting is due to last 40 days over two periods, and will resume for four weeks in November-December 2006 in Romania, in the Delta Danube near the Black Sea.

A 70% majority production from Hungary’s Proton Cinema, owned by filmmaker Viktória Petrányi (see interview), Delta received 30% co-production funding from German outfit Essential Filmproduktion, headed by Susanne Marian.

Delta’s budget is approximately €1.5m and includes funding from Germany’s Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (€150,000) and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (€120,000), as well as participation from Germany’s ZDF-Arte. French company The Coproduction Office, which is handling international sales, will start pre-sales at the Cannes Film Market in May.

(Translated from French)