Cinema for me is…
Attila in 23 Frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Hungarian boy from Romania, who loves filmmaking and rainy days.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
My best quality is to figure it out somehow. My worst habit is arguing about something with the phrase: “I always said…”, just to make a point. Actually, I never say what I say, when I say I always said.
3. Your dream job?
My dream job is to make films, documentaries which can influence and change someone’s life, literally.
4. What do you like most about your country?
It’s potential to change and develop.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
My favorite dish is diós bejgli (a traditional spiral strudel with sweet walnuts) with a cup of hot black coffee.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
The Hungarian word I like the most is: ő. It means both he and she.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Lately I did not visit any European capital, but one month ago, I was in Hamburg. It’s lovely. I like its gentle rain.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
For a short period, I would like to live in Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Greece, Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia, Italy, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal. I would love to live in a lot of countries, but just for a short period. In Romania I would like to get old.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Diversity, safety, unity.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Close up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1989, IR), because it had an impact on its main characters, real life.
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
I like all the old film theatres, which did not have an air-conditioning system. I like to smell the place, to feel that somebody was there before me. In a well air-conditioned hall, or space I can’t feel a continuity, the history of that place, the viewers warmth from previous projections. Cinema Victoria from Cluj for instance. It’s really cozy.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Maurice (Timothy Spall) from Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996, GB).
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
I don’t want to be anyone, besides myself, but I really like Godard, Akerman, Herzog, Kiarostami, Porumboiu, Tarr, Loach, Edward Yang, Elek Judit, Hal Ashby, Woody Allen.
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
The live talk show from 12.08 East of Bucharest (Corneliu Porumboiu, 2006, RO) in which the TV presenter, his guests and the calling-in people are giving a try to reconstitute a historical moment of Romania and one of its provincial town to finally answer the question: was it or wasn’t it a revolution?
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Dolor y Gloria (Pedro Almodóvar, 2019, ES),
About Endlessness (Roy Andersson, 2019, SE)
The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg, 2019, GB).
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Chance, the gardener played by Peter Sellers in Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979, US).
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
Lately I tend to like pop songs reinterpreted or covered and matched at a climactic part of the film. I really like Lotte Kestners cover of Beyonce’s “Halo” from Sorrentino’s The Young Pope.
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
I would like to live in a world like Buster Keaton does in One Week (1920, US). To build my own house, to be with my loved one and try to survive while doing gags.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
If my life becomes a bio-pic I would like that one of my parents to play my role. They know me the best.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
To sing. I think a filmmaker will always envy a singer.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
I had a notebook with the signatures of Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu and Cristian Mungiu. I lost it. Now, I think my treasured possession is a hand-developed photo of me, made by my flat mate. Or my bicycle.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement is to raise my voice in a situation whenever it’s needed to defend someone defenseless.
23. What is your motto?
“I don’t know what to say.”