Liza, the Fox-Fairy

Liza, the Fox-Fairy (Hungarian: Liza, a rókatündér) is a 2015 Hungarian black comedy film directed by Károly Ujj Mészáros, starring Mónika Balsai, Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas and David Sakurai. The film drew an audience of over 100,000 in Hungary, thus qualifying as a domestic success,[1] and was awarded the Grand Prize at the Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal, where it premiered internationally.

Liza, the Fox-Fairy
Theatrical release poster
Liza, a rókatündér
Directed byKároly Ujj Mészáros
Produced byIstván Major,
Csanád Darvas
(as associate producer)
Written byKároly Ujj Mészáros
Bálint Hegedűs
Based onstage play Liselotte és a május
by Zsolt Pozsgai
StarringMónika Balsai
Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas
David Sakurai
Music byDániel Csengery
Ambrus Tövisházi
CinematographyPéter Szatmári
Edited byJudit Czakó
Production
company
FilmTeam
Release date
  • 19 February 2015 (2015-02-19)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryHungary
LanguageHungarian
BudgetHUF 420 million

The film's music was elected for "the 2015 year most successful soundtrack" in Hungary[2] and four songs were recorded on a limited 7 inch vinyl.[3]

Plot summary

Liza is a 30-year-old, naïve, lonely nurse living in "Csudapest",[note 1] the capital of a fictionalized 1970s Hungary with a capitalist system. She has taken care of Marta, the widow of the former Japanese ambassador, for the last 12 years. On her 30th birthday Liza goes to a Mekk Burger restaurant to find romance, upon reading about it in a Japanese romance novel. While she’s away, Marta is killed by Liza’s only friend, Tomy Tani, the ghost of a Japanese pop singer from the 1950s, resulting in Liza inheriting her apartment. Relatives report Liza to the police for murdering Marta. Sergeant Zoltan is put on the case, who gets very nearly killed in the process, and falls slowly in love with Liza after moving into her apartment as a flatmate. She gains confidence, but all her dating efforts end in fatal accidents. Liza is convinced that she has become a fox-fairy, a demon from Japanese mythology. According to the legend, men who fall in love with a fox-fairy die soon afterwards.

Cast
Mónika Balsai
David Sakurai
Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas
  • Mónika Balsai as Liza, the Fox-Fairy
  • David Sakurai as Tomy Tani
  • Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas as Sergeant Zoltán
  • Piroska Molnár as Márta, the widow of a Japanese Ambassador to Hungary
  • Zoltán Schmied as Henrik
  • Antal Cserna as Károly
  • Gábor Reviczky as police Colonel
  • Mariann Kocsis as Hildácska
  • Ági Gubík as Inge
  • Lehel Kovács as Mr. Ludvig
  • Győző Szabó: Mr B., or Jonny[4]
  • János Bán as Heartbreak
  • István Hajdu as Ferenc, a manager[5]
  • László Nádasi as staff sergeant
  • Sándor Szűcs as police doctor
  • Nóra Diána Takács as Police Secretary
  • Dezső Rancsó as chimney sweeper
  • Vali Dániel as Teri
  • Zsuzsa Töreky as Edit
  • Mária Bókay as Vilma
  • István Gőz as Dr. Keserű
  • Kata Bartsch as Kriszta
  • Klára Jarábik as Orsi
  • Rodrigo Crespo as Orsi's husband
  • Batjav Batod as Eskimo
  • Zoltán Karácsonyi as Teleshop Giovanni
  • Katalin Kiss Horváth as Johnny's daughter
  • Orsolya Mihály as Mekk Burger's salesgirl
  • Andrea Balázs as sick-nurse
  • Katalin Ben as Malvinka
  • Kata Losonczi as Timi
  • Gyöngy Bérces as Cosmo cover girl
  • Gábor Harsányi as Narrator (voice)

Production

The film is based on the play Liselotte és a május by Zsolt Pozsgai.[6] The Japanese theme was added by Károly Ujj Mészáros, who was fascinated by Japanese culture, especially pop music from the 1960s and 1970s. He was also attracted by similarities between Japanese and Hungarian traditions. He had directed several commercials in Japan, which gave him further familiarity with Japanese culture.[7] The film was produced by FilmTeam with co-production support from Origo Film Group. The budget was 420 million forint (1,6 million USD), of which 220 million came from the Hungarian National Film Fund.[8] The cast rehearsed for a month before filming started.[7]

Premiere and festival screenings
  • Budapest premiere: February 19, 2015
  • International premiere: Fantasporto Film Festival (Portugal), March 2, 2015
  • Asian premiere: Osaka Asian Film Festival (Japan), March 10, 2015[9]
  • South-American premiere: Pantalla Pinamar (Argentina), March 11, 2015[10]
  • Dutch premiere: Imagine: Film Festival (Netherlands), April 12, 2015[11]
  • North American premiere: Seattle International Film Festival (USA), May 25, 2015[12]
  • Tromsø International Film Festival: Film Festival (Norway), 2016[13]

Awards

– 2015

- Grand Prix of the fantasy competition and
- Special Effects Award
- Silver Scream Award, Méliès d’Argent for the best European fantastic film[15][16]
nominated for Golden Méliès[17]
- The audiences top-3 of the festival[18][19]
- 7th Orbit Award for Best Film (haven’t already been presented at Brussels and have been produced in the last two years, attributed by a national jury of professionals)[20][21]
- The Pegasus Award, Prize of the Audience[20]
- "Paul Naschy" Award[24](Best Film)
- Best Director
- Best Play: Actor (Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas) and Actress (Mónika Balsai)
- Best Screenplay[note 2]
- Best Special Effects[note 2]
- Best Actress (Mónika Balsai)[26]
- Grand Jury Prize, New Directors Competition (Károly Ujj Mészáros)[27]
- Cineuropa Prize, which singles out the best international film hailing from the Danube countries[29][30]
- Audience award 2nd Place[31]
- Siren Award for best international film,
- Audience Award for Best Feature
- Audience Award for Best Feature[34]
- Audience Award for Best Feature
- Best Film "Hungarians in Hollywood" Award: Károly Ujj Mészáros[36]
- Best Actress Award jury prize: Mónika Balsai[37]
- Audience Award for New Narrative Feature[38]
- Grand Prix (2015)[40]

– 2016

  • 54th Hungarian Film Critics Award - Budapest
- Best First Film of 2015 (Károly Ujj Mészáros)[41][42]
  • 2nd Hungarian Film Week: Hungarian Film Award - Budapest
- Best Feature (Károly Ujj Mészáros)
- Best Director (Károly Ujj Mészáros)
- Best Actress (Mónika Balsai)
- Best Film-editor (Judit Czakó)
- Best Scenery and Costumes (Balázs Hujber, Ibolya Bárdosi)
- Best Film composers (Ambrus Tövisházi, Dániel Csengery)
- Best makeup, hairdressing and make-up artist (Csilla Horváth, Erzsébet Rácz, Nóra Kapás)[43]
  • 13th Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival - Monaco[44]
- Best Actress (Mónika Balsai)[45]

Notes
  1. A portmanteau from csuda (or csoda) ’miracle’ and Budapest, the capital of Hungary
  2. (ex aequo with the US-Canadian film Exeter)
gollark: Yes, perhaps I'm just expecting too much of people again...
gollark: I do expect people to at least check if the code runs locally.
gollark: Oh, right, so not PotatOS. Shame.
gollark: How did you figure out they were CC-related?
gollark: So *half* of the CC code files on pastebin don't parse? Sounds implausible.

References
Notes
  1. "A Liza, a rókatündér már százezer nézőnél tart" (in Hungarian). origo.hu. 2015-04-30. Retrieved 2015-04-30.
  2. Takács Dalma (2016-01-04). "2015 KULTfilmzenéi (TOP 10)". KULTer.hu. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  3. "Liza, the Fox Fairy 7" by Erik Sumo & the Fox Fairies / Limited Edition 7" Vinyl EP (500 copies)". budabeats.bandcamp.com. 2015-12-12. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  4. "Szabó Győző soha nem hagy nyomokat. Werk-interjú a Liza, a rókatündér szereplőivel" (in Hungarian). magyar.film.hu. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  5. "Hajdu Steve talpig úriember. Werk-interjú a Liza, a rókatündér szereplőivel" (in Hungarian). magyar.film.hu. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  6. "Liza, The Fox Fairy at Cinéfondation Workshop". cineuropa.org. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  7. Arozamena, Jon (2015-04-23). "Interviews: Karoly Ujj Mészáros • Director". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  8. "Nagyon szórakoztató a Liza, a rókatündér előzetese" (in Hungarian). Index.hu. 2014-05-27. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  9. "LIZA, THE FOX-FAIRY". Osaka Asian Film Festival. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  10. "LIZA, THE FOX-FAIRY". Pantalla Pinamar. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  11. "Liza, the Fox-Fairy". Imagine Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  12. "Liza, the Fox-Fairy". Seattle International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2015-05-17. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
  13. "Liza, the Fox-Fairy". Tromsø Internasjonale Filmfestival. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  14. Vitor Pinto (2015-03-09). "Fantasporto crowns Liza, the Fox-Fairy". cineuropa.org. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  15. "Silver Scream Award". imaginefilmfestival.nl. Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2015-04-18.
  16. "Imagine-awards to Hongary and India". imaginefilmfestival.nl. 2015-04-28. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05.
  17. Ard Vijn (2015-04-22). "Imagine 2015: What The Audiences Liked Best". twitchfilm.com. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  18. Ard Vijn (2015-04-20). ""Imagine 2015 Review: LIZA, THE FOX-FAIRY Magnificently Kills With Kindness"". twitchfilm.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  19. "Silver Scream Award rating". imaginefilmfestival.nl. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  20. "BIFFF 2015 Awards". bifff.net. 2015-04-19.
  21. "Regulations for long feature films" (PDF). bifff.net. June 2014.
  22. "Premios Festival Nocturna 2015" (in Spanish). nocturnafilmfestival.com. 2015-06-01. Archived from the original on 2016-05-13.
  23. "Liza, the Fox Fairy demolishes the competition at Nocturna 2015". cineuropa.org. 2015-06-01.
  24. "Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival, Nocturna". filmfreeway.com. 2015-06-01. Archived from the original on 2015-09-27.
  25. "Fantaspoa XI Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantástico de Porto Alegre 2015" (in Portuguese). fantaspoa.com. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  26. "Fantaspoa 2015: El Incidente wins best Ibero-America film". Eric Ortiz García. @CinemaMovil_mx (Cross-published on TwitchFilm). 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  27. "2015 Award Winners". siff.net. 2015-06-08. Archived from the original on 2015-06-14. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  28. "CinEmaCity International Film Festival: Awards". cinemacity.org. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  29. Laura Nanchino (2015-07-06). "FESTIVALS Serbia: No One's Child and Barbarians split the honours at Novi Sad". cineuropa.org.
  30. "Cineuropa prize". cineuropa.org. 2015-07-06.
  31. "Announcing The 2015 Fantastic Fest Jury Winners!". fantasticfest.com. 2015-10-01.
  32. "For once in the award giving history of Lund International Fantastic Film Festival the jury and the audience actually did agree on ONE winner! And that winner is... LIZA, THE FOX-FAIRY!". Lund International Fantastic Film Festival Official Facebook page. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
  33. "About the Festival". Monsters of Film webpage. Archived from the original on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  34. "Ok, andningspaus över..." (in Swedish). Monsters of Film Facebook site. 2015-11-02. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  35. "CDFF '15 Audience Award Winners!". cdff.ca. 2015-11-09. Archived from the original on 2015-11-08. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  36. "15. HFFLA Best Film Award". 2015-11-11. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  37. "15. HFFLA Best Actress Award". 15hffla.com. 2015-11-11. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  38. "LIFF29 Audience Award winners announced". leedsfilm.com. 2015-11-20. Archived from the original on 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  39. "Communiqué de presse - 11 Décembre 2015" (PDF) (in French). cinessonne.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  40. "Palmarès 17ème festival du cinéma européen en Essonne" (in French). cinessonne.com. 2015-11-10. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  41. "Nemes Jeles Lászlóé a legjobb rendezésért járó díj és a fődíj is" (in Hungarian). MÚOSz.hu. 2016-01-29. Archived from the original on 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  42. "Megnyertük a legjobb elsőfilmesnek járó díjat!!!". facebook.com (in Hungarian). Liza, a rókatündér - Liza, the Fox-Fairy. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  43. "A Liza, a rókatündér lett a legjobb játékfilm a 2. Magyar Filmhéten" (in Hungarian). filmhet.hu. 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  44. "Palmarès du Monte-Carlo Film Festival de la Comédie" (in French). monacochannel.mc. 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  45. Szűcs Gyula (2016-03-07). "Monte Carlóban is imádják a Rókatündért" (in Hungarian). index.hu. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
Sources
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