21-23

AK: I think the job of the protagonist – she is a toilet attendant who cleans public toilets and takes the fee from people – is one of the most disdained jobs. Once I was traveling with a long distance coach and, as usual, we stopped every two hours to have a rest – that means that all the women were standing in a queue during the whole break for the toilet. I thought about making a film of this subject before, but I think that was the point - the long bus trip – when the basics of this story came in to my mind. Beyond the feeling of humiliation of these people it is even more interesting how an adolescent person can treat this if it concerns her/his parents. As a child one identifies her/himself with the parents, and adolescence is the age when one tries to break from them, and to define her/himself according to others as well. It is a very difficult age, a time to revolt against the previous identifications, because the ego wants to come out, you want to feel, that you are different person. And it is really hard if you have to confront such humiliation.

CL: How difficult was the transition from short to feature in both script and production?

AK: The longer the film the more difficult it is to see the whole structure, to maintain the rhythm, to feel where it goes up or down. And the more you read the script, or watch the edited film, the more you get lost in it. I personally always like to wait some time when I think that I've finished a draft of the script or a version of the film editing. After a certain time you can see it a bit differently, with fresher eyes or mind. It is not a bad thing anyway, as I think everything has to mature inside, and with time we are able to see things differently. Sometimes I discover aspects that, for example, in the writing or the editing I have not previously thought about. Also - this is a common thought but very true - that to be profound, to examine the real nature of things, one needs time. A lot of time.

CL: All your films so far particularly feature people in their place of work, usually repetitive boring jobs. Are you interested in the way that these occupations dominate much of their lives?

AK: Yes, certainly! What you do in at least eight hours a day is what determines your life. If we take it that one sleeps eight hours, then eats, showers, travels, goes to work, goes shopping, etc., there is not so much time left for other things. That means that the working hours dominate our lives, and the working place our social life. Often people choose their friends from work too. I think most people are not satisfied with their job, they do it only for money because they don't have any other choice. Even if they seem satisfied on the surface, from time to time they dream about some diversity, new things that would make their life more interesting.

CL: Despite the bleak environment and desperate living conditions, parts of Fresh Air are effortlessly funny. How important is humor in your work?

AK: I consider humor and irony as a very important part of our lives. We need them to maintain a certain distance, to remain objective, seeing also the different aspects of things. Things always have many sides, and we can discover absurdity in everything. Self-irony means that you are also able to see yourself from the outside. This is also a very important thing for me in life too, not only in film.

{niftybox background=#8FBC8F, width=360px} That means that the working hours dominate our lives, and the working place our social life. Often people choose their friends from work too. I think most people are not satisfied with their job, they do it only for money because they don't have any other choice. Even if they seem satisfied on the surface, from time to time they dream about some diversity, new things that would make their life more interesting.{/niftybox}

CL: There's an impression that what we see on screen is the antidote to the dramatic idea of a life irrevocably changed, that your characters lives will carry on as normal after the film ends.

AK: Yes, usually you see characters on film that are completely unreal. For example, someone who experienced an immense psychological trauma all of a sudden changes and becomes completely cured soon after meeting a nice person. These are very nice tales, but in real life you have to undergo at least ten years of psychotherapy and you will never really get cured.

CL: You've written all the scripts for your films so far. Is it important to have complete control or could you direct someone else's script?

AK: I wrote The Virus, 18 Pictures from the Life of a Conserve Factory Girl, Fresh Air and Adrienn Pál together with Andrea Roberti, though it is true that they originated from my ideas. It's important for me to write the scripts because I would like to make films that are more personal and give back the most of my personal vision – also on the level of the story or the dramaturgy. There are questions and thoughts that I find important to talk about. I think the way I tell a story - although it has a classical dramaturgy - it is more contemplative, it has its own rhythm, and that is in the script already. So it would be very difficult for me to make a film from someone else's script. I don't think at this moment of making a film from a book either. It would be possible for me only if I would change so much of the story that it almost wouldn't be that book anymore, or if someone would write a script which really reflects my taste and way of thinking.

CL: Hungarian Cinema seems to have had something of a Renaissance (e.g., Béla Tarr, Nimród Antal, György Pálfi, Benedek Fliegauf) in the 2000s. Why do you think such good directors and films are coming out of Hungary at the same time?

AK: Unfortunately, for the last three and a half years the film production was stopped by the government as they shut down the Hungarian Film Fund. Shortly afterwards the government decided to set up a new one which took more than a year. They have started to substitute some films, but only now are there two or three films in post production, and also only a few in production.

Before, in Hungary around 30 films were being produced a year which is quite a lot compared to the population (10 million). Almost all the films were produced with the support of the Hungarian Film Fund, and lately a lot of young people have had a chance to make a film. I think the possibility of experimenting is very important in every art, and if more people got a chance to show something the probability of achieving a good result would be greater. It is not possible to do something original, something really outstanding, if you want to be sure of the result in advance. You have to take risks. If you try and attain a level of certainty, usually you'll get a mediocre result.

CL: You say the storyline is not the most important thing in your films. Tell me therefore, how did you develop the story and screenplay for Adrienn Pál?

AK: The storyline is very important, but not the most important thing for me. Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that it mustn't be well structured. I always try to develop the scripts very carefully. During the writing procedure, or even from the birth of the initial idea, the visual aspect of the film is crucial. I would say for me that is the basis of the film, and I develop it together with the storyline. I don't like to rewrite the script too many times, making completely new drafts. Initially we try to elaborate the first steps – like the synopsis or later the treatment - as properly and thoroughly as we can to ensure that we don't have to change basic things later, so that the next drafts will be just trying to refine the screenplay. Therefore, the biggest work for us is in the beginning of the process.