prolitera PRODUCTIONS LTD
KASZTNER'S ARK
35mm, color, 115 min., 1:1,85,
Dolby Digital Surround
Hungary, Switzerland,
Israel
"Kasztner’s Ark” tackles the legend of Rezso Kasztner, the Hungarian Jew who reputedly made a deal with the devil by the name of Adolf Eichmann. Hannah Arendt famously called him the “strange Dr. Kasztner” and he’s been called far worse than that.
He was a swindler and an intellectual, as well as a handsome ladies’ man who maintained a casual relationship with the truth. He was also an ardent Zionist determined to use all his powers, admirable and otherwise, to stop the Nazis from destroying the last remaining Jewish community in Europe.
Did he truly believe he could close a deal trading ten thousand trucks for one million Hungarian Jews? Did he intentionally mislead hundreds of thousands of his people to save ten members of his own family? Did he suffer from Stockholm Syndrome and identify with the Nazi murderers simply because one of them treated him like he was human?
Or was he, as many scholars have insisted, the man who saved more Jewish lives during the holocaust than anyone else in history?
The answers to all these questions depend on who you ask. To this day, the truth has never been agreed upon. His story makes Rashomon seem as simple as a nursery rhyme.
Therefore, we have chosen to tell his story through the eyes of the sole person who has access to the facts. Someone who was there and fought by his side and understands the choices that had to be made.
Her name is Hansi Brand.
Hansi is not only impressive, she’s trustworthy. As Kasztner’s lover, you may wonder if our narrator can offer an objective version of the truth. The answer is yes. She was the only one who could cut through Kasztner’s swagger and form a bond with the real man. A woman whose love isn’t blind – it’s illuminating.
PRINCIPAL TEAM
Director - Janos Edelenyi
Writer – Pamela Katz and Janos Eelenyi
Producers – Marek Rozenbaum, Anne Walser
Executive Producer - Endre Szekely
Director of Photography - Tibor Mathe
main characters & CAST PROPOSALS
Rezso Kasztner
Hansi Brand
Bogyo Kasztner
Kurt Becher
Adolf Eichmann
Joel Palgi
Saly Mayer
Joel Brand
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
(excerpt)
I have often wondered why a period piece should be different to a contemporary story in its artistic approach. For a while, I even entertained the thought of shooting KASZTNER'S ARK on the streets of today’s Budapest – not least to emphasize that the moral dilemmas of old have not vanished from our lives. Then I had to accept that setting our tale in present day would make it improbable in a technical sense… In the age of Facebook and Instagram, stories play out differently. Yet, the quandaries of heroism versus opportunism, martyrdom, and the right to sacrifice a human life for saving another, are as valid today as they were during the unique tragedy of the Holocaust.
So, the story will unfold on the screen in its own historical time but I approach it as if it had happened in our time. This is not purely an artistic decision, but one that is rooted in the very origin of my desire to tell the story of Rezso Kasztner, who saved the lives of thousands at a price that included his own, taken by an assassin’s bullet. Of course, it would be blasphemous to compare one’s moral dilemma to those our protagonists faced in their horrible times but Judge Halevi’s verdict over Kasztner, who “sold his soul to Satan”, sounded very relevant when analyzing my own reasons for leaving communist Hungary, giving up a promising career in favor of the precarious life of a political émigré. I felt that staying on in an oppressive regime was a “Faustian bargain” that I didn’t want to make. So, it was a very personal urge to tell the story of bargaining with the devil – one that must be recounted throughout the ages whether the actual Doctor Faustus belonged to the times of Marlowe, Goethe or Thomas Mann.
Therefore, we approach the story that played out in the nightmare years of the Holocaust as if it were happening now. We want to observe our characters from up close, using a magnifying glass not in reverse – as many “historical films” do – creating a distance accentuated by costumes, visual style and mannerisms of a past era. Our film will bypass the trap of showing images of anguish, to concentrate on the drama that played out in offices, apartments, and other “neutral” locations. Using Hannah Arendt’s often misquoted concept of the “banality of evil”, we would like to show the events in everyday simplicity and make a film about the heroism of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
Production Principals
Director: JANOS EDELENYI
After graduating from the Academy of Films in Budapest, JANOS EDELENYI rejoined the staff of the Hungarian Television, where he had worked prior to film school. His early works are widely acknowledged as groundbreaking, having redefined the medium through their daring use of extreme close ups, and were twice awarded the Grand Prize, Best Photography and Best TV Adaptation Prize.
Despite all acclaim and success, several other works, including documentaries, a television movie based upon Shakespeare’s Richard II and a poetry program, were banned, only to premier three decades later.
Consequently, in 1976 Janos was forced into exile. In 1977 he immigrated to Israel where he has lived ever since. After leaving Hungary he directed and photographed industrial films and documentaries for American broadcasters. In 1991 he produced the first Israeli-Hungarian feature co-production, THE LONG SHADOW, starring Michael York and Liv Ullmann, directed by Oscar winning Vilmos Zsigmond.
In 2009 he co-wrote and directed the multiple award-winning feature film, PRIMA PRIMAVERA, a Hungarian-Bulgarian-Dutch-UK coproduction.
THE CARER, a UK-Hungarian co-production starring BRIAN COX and introducing the Viennese born Hungarian COCO KONIG premiered to critical acclaim in Palm Springs and received the AUDIENCE PRIZE. It had its European premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival, where it was named Best of the Fest.
Scriptwriter: PAMELA KATZ
Author and screenwriter Pamela Katz, the child of a German émigré, has often explored the complex past of the European refugees that populated the Upper West Side of Manhattan where she was raised. Drawn to the brilliant personalities of the Weimar Republic, her latest film – the internationally acclaimed Hannah Arendt – won two German Academy awards and Best Foreign Film in Japan and was one of New York Times critic A.O. Scott's Top Ten Films of 2013.
Remembrance is a love story about a couple that escaped from Auschwitz, and whose passion survived a 30-year separation was inspired by true events. It received the Audience Awards at the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival, the L.A. Jewish Film Festival, the UK Jewish Film Festival and the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival.
Yet, she is best known for the dramatic historical films she wrote in collaboration with the legendary director Margarethe von Trotta. These include Rosenstrasse, about German civilian resistance to Hitler, The Other Woman, about the Stasi Romeos in former East Germany, and Hannah Arendt, a portrayal of the German Jewish philosopher’s controversial encounter with the Nazi Adolf Eichmann.
Producer: MAREK ROZENBAUM
Marek Rozenbaum is one of the most experienced film producers in Israel. He has directed and produced over 40 features, among them and international co-productions and award-winning films that received worldwide recognition. He Chairman of the Israeli Academy for Cinema and has held the position of Chairman of Israel's Film Producers Association for 6 years. In addition to feature films his company, TRANSFAX FILMS, has produced 40 documentaries for TV, 7 dramas and over 80 TV programs.
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Producer: ANNE WALSER
Born in 1977 in Paris, Anne Walser spent periods of her adolescent years in France, Australia, and Greece, before moving to Zurich, where she still lives today. After working as editorial staff for various television stations, general work in journalism, she got a permanent position as production manager at C-FILMS AG in late 1999. In this capacity, she oversaw the European large-scale production "Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman" and the Box-Office success "Grounding – The Last Days of Swissair". Since 2005, Anne Walser works as a producer and focuses not only on the funding and realization of projects but also on general content development and script work. In 2006, she became part of the company management of C-FILMS AG, and in 2007, she became a partner in the firm. Her work includes national and international projects for cinema and television, among them movie adaptations of international bestsellers such as "The Cook" and "The Last Weynfeldt" from Martin Suter. Her movies have won numerous awards and quality bonuses at home and abroad, such as three European Film Awards, for the international co-production of "Youth". Additionally, she won the Swiss Box-Office success bonus of the city of Zurich twice, for "One Step to Freedom" and "Marcello Marcello".
Cinematographer: TIBOR MÁTHÉ (H.S.C.)
Tibor Mathe is the most decorated Hungarian cinematographer, having received dozens of national and international prizes for best photography. He has been nominated three times and won the most coveted D.O.P. accolade, THE GOLDEN FROG, awarded by a jury of the world’s most famous cinematographers. He is also the most sought-after professor of cinematography in Hungary. His motto can be summarized in one sentence: “Winning a photographer’s prize is flattering but knowing that an actor won one in a film I photographed makes me really happy because it means I must have done something right, after all.”
Production designer: MARION SCHRAMM
Marion Schramm is a production designer and art director. After studying cinema and economics at the University of Zurich, she took up studies at the ETH Zurich and the UDK Berlin, qualifying as an architect. Since 2001 Marion Schramm has been employed in different positions in the film industry, including as a production assistant, script supervisor, first assistant director, location scout and art director. During this period, she was asked to design for the movie Grounding, leading her to find her current vocation. Ever since, she has worked on numerous productions as production designer, most prominently Verdingbub, Marcello Marcello, Akte Grüninger and Youth.