1939

On 3 September 1939, a young woman mysteriously disappears. A private investigator is set to the case. What happened to Ilonka? Is she hiding from her abusive military officer husband? Did she engage in an illegal political movement? Or on the contrary, she fell in love and fled the country with a Jewish journalist? What if she became a spy, as the butler believes?
This detective story lets us peek into a society divided to the extreme on the brink of a global cataclysm.

  • Zsolt Magyari
    Director
    1984 /short documentary/ 2017 Ellentétek vonzásában: Peking /documentary/ DunaTV, 2010 Pantomime /short fiction/ Masterfilm Cinema Kft., 2009 Eroul (The hero) /short fiction/ UNATC, 2007 Swimming Lesson /short fiction/ Filmtett Dunaműhely, 2006 Return /short fiction/ Filmtett Dunaműhely, 2005 Kézről kézre (From Hand to Hand) /short fiction/ Filmtett Dunaműhely, 2003
  • Claudia Benkő
    Director
    Golden life / TV series, season 1/ 2015-2018 The orange passport /fiction film/ 2018 The teacher / TV series, season 2/ 2019 Apatigris / TV series, season 1/ 2020 Mintaapák / TV series, season 3/ 2021
  • Zsolt Magyari
    Writer
  • Alexandra Kocsis
    Writer
  • Claudia Benkő
    Writer
  • Patrícia D'Intino
    Producer
    2023 A Siege / feature film in development / producer 2022 Cabin Pressure - ‘Motherhood, My Way!’ / documentary in production / producer 2021 The Fishing Net / short / producer 2021 1939 / short / producer 2021 / ’Terra X – Kaffee’ / documentary / service producer 2020 / ’Terra X – Orientexpress – Ein Zug schreibt Gesichte’ / documentary / service producer 2020 / ’To Feather, to Wither’ / short documentary / producer (premiere: DOK Leipzig) 2018 / ’A Siege’ / short fiction / line producer (Bronze Student Acadamy Awards, AFI, Sarajevo FF etc.) 2018 / ’Castaways’ / animation cross media project / delegate producer (Trebon VAF TV series winner, Primanima, Cartoon Forum etc.) 2017 / ’Granny Project’ / feature documentary / associate producer (premiere: DOK Leipzig 2017, selected to CPH DOX, IDFA, Hot Docs, etc.) 2017 / ’Another News Story’ / feature documentary / associate producer (premiere: Karlovy Vary) 2017 / ’The Last Day of the Empire’ / short fiction / co-producer (selected to Dresden FF)
  • Anikó Für
    Key Cast
    "Mrs. Scitovszky"
  • Levente Molnár
    Key Cast
    "Detective"
  • László Gálffy
    Key Cast
    "Mr. Scitovszky"
  • József Gyabronka
    Key Cast
    "Dr. Karczag"
  • Zsolt Magyari
    DOP
  • Gergely Roszik
    Editor
  • Dávid Vajda Bodnár
    Sound designer
  • Janka Szokolai
    Costume designer
  • Jennifer Gindele
    Set designer
  • Andrea Steinhauser
    Casting director
  • Viola Cserkúti
    Art Director
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Completion Date:
    May 15, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Hungary
  • Country of Filming:
    Hungary
  • Language:
    English, Hungarian
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:85
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Zsolt Magyari, Claudia Benkő

Zsolt Magyari is a cinematic storyteller with a multidisciplinary background. He has contributed to the making of numerous films as cinematographer and as stereographer. He has directed musicvideos, short films and documentaries.
He has been guest lecturer of stereoscopic cinematography at Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, dffb Berlin, Filmakademie Baden Württemberg, SSR Manchester and is the co-founder of Stereographer Ltd. that creates high-end technology for stereoscopic filming.
He studied cinematography at the Romanian and Hungarian national film schools and has a M.Sc. degree in Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Geographical Information Systems.

Claudia Benkő is an actress and a theatre directing student about to graduate. She graduated with a BA in Psychology from ELTE in 2017. She graduated as an actor from the Hungarian Theatre Academy in 2016 and continued her studies at the Budapest University of Theatre and Film Arts, majoring in theatre directing. She has worked as a director in the Textúra Programme of the Hungarian National Gallery, the Secondhand production of the Örkény Theatre and the Night of Literature project, among others. Since January, she is a fellow of the ETC Artist Residency
Programme in Berlin, and will participate in a production in preparation at the National Theatre in Prague as assistant director.

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