OTTAWA \u2013 7 February 2012:<\/strong> Against the current backdrop of the European Commission launching legal action against Hungary for violations of treaty law and democracy: a new film has touched a nerve over its examination of often irreconcilable ideologies between east and west.<\/p>\n Since its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival a few months ago, \u201cThe Maiden Danced to Death\u201d, a co production between Canada and Hungary become a festival darling to audiences around the globe. To date it has been invited to 16 festivals in 12 countries, and counting.<\/p>\n The production boasts some Hungary\u2019s top talent including Academy Award winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond A.S.C. (The Deer Hunter, Close Encounters, Deliverance, Maverick), Screen Actor\u2019s Guild award recipient Endre Hules (Angels & Demons, Apollo 13, Se7en) and actor Zsolt Laszlo (The Eagle, Kontroll).<\/p>\n Despite international kudos, the film\u2019s release in Hungary has met by some with harsh criticism and indignation over its subversive post-mortem on the end of the Cold War.<\/p>\n Set in 1999, “The Maiden Danced to Death” tells the story of two estranged brothers and former dancers who reunite after the opening of the iron curtain. With their common love interest brokering a truce, the brothers set about resurrecting their last successful choreography together, based on a ballad of the same name. As old ghosts begin to surface, the inevitable clash of cultural and political ideology comes to the fore.<\/p>\n Expelled by the Communists 20 years earlier, Steve (Hules), has earned success abroad before returning to Hungary where his very presence challenges the ideals of this brother Gyula (Laszlo) who \u201cstuck it out\u201d at home all those years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe inspiration came from the very real antagonism between the sizeable Hungarian diaspora – mostly political refugees – and those who remained in Hungary\u201d says writer-director Hules, himself a former refugee. \u201cI was always wondering if these suspicions could be resolved somehow so those groups could help each other better. This film is part of that thinking process\u201d.<\/p>\n The timing and execution of that \u201cthinking process\u201d has clearly hit a nerve, placing that diaspora and the current administration at odds.<\/p>\n An international co production between Hungary, Canada and Slovenia, \u201cThe making of this movie really became case of life mimicking art,\u201d according to its Canadian producer, Michael A. Dobbin of Quiet Revolution Pictures.<\/p>\n Upon taking office with a two thirds majority in the Hungarian parliament in 2010, the government of Viktor Orban quickly set about \u201crestructuring\u201d the Hungarian Film Fund, which was at the time a participant in the film\u2019s financing.<\/p>\n \u201cSuddenly, Hungary wasn\u2019t playing by the rules any more and didn\u2019t seem to care that it could be hurting its own producers \u2013 let alone its partners\u201d says Dobbin. \u201cThe fact that the film is now such a success is truly in spite of seemingly intentional efforts to sabotage an international partnership.\u201d The pattern is hard to ignore.<\/p>\n Represented by ID Communications a Canadian sales company, the film will be screened for its international market premiere in Berlin\u2019s European Film Market on February 14. It will continue on to festivals is Poland, Portugal, USA to name a few in the coming months. Click here for a full list of festivals and screening dates as well as the film trailer<\/p>\n The Maiden Danced to Death is also available on iTunes Canada, and premieres on Super Channel, and will be available on DVD\/Bluray in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" East-west film collaboration sparks controversy As Hungary faces growing political isolation from the European Union, an internationally co-produced drama strikes a nerve. OTTAWA \u2013 7 February 2012: Against the current backdrop of the European Commission launching legal action against Hungary for violations of treaty law and democracy: a new film has touched a nerve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,5,21,15,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/code>
\nAs Hungary faces growing political isolation from the European Union,
\nan internationally co-produced drama strikes a nerve.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/the_maiden_danced_death_07_02_2012.jpg\" "\\"the_maiden_danced_death_07_02_2012\\"")
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