back

Az én XX. századom

My 20th Century | Mein 20. Jahrhundert
Berlinale Classics 2018
© István Jávor
In 1879, as Thomas Alva Edison was lighting up Menlo Park with his first demonstration of the incandescent light bulb, far away in Europe, a dark and joyless childhood was beginning for identical twins Dora and Lili in Budapest. Orphaned and separated as young girls by a quirk of fate, their lives take very different directions. Dora becomes a successful con woman, while Lili joins a group of anarchist revolutionaries. Unknown to each other, their paths cross again briefly on New Year’s Eve in 1899 on the Orient Express. They will ultimately be linked by Z, a cosmopolitan gentlemen who has no idea that he is actually wooing two woman, not one …This first feature by director Ildikó Enyedi, who won the Golden Bear at the 2017 Berlinale for Testről és lélekről (On Body and Soul), is a bit like a puzzle. It presents the audience with a romantic love story, a poetic fairy tale, an erotic riddle – and at the same time, an inventory of new technology – electricity, the telegraph, film. Conceived as an homage to silent movies and shot in black-and-white, Az én XX. századom references many silent film techniques and tricks. – World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP.
by Ildikó Enyedi
with Dorota Segda, Oleg Jankovski, Péter Andorai, Gábor Máthé, Paulus Manker, Gyula Kéri, Andrei Schwartz, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt Hungary / Federal Republic of Germany 1989 Hungarian 105’ Black/White Digitally restored version 2017

With

  • Dorota Segda
  • Oleg Jankovski
  • Péter Andorai
  • Gábor Máthé
  • Paulus Manker
  • Gyula Kéri
  • Andrei Schwartz
  • Dietrich Kuhlbrodt

Crew

Written and Directed by Ildikó Enyedi
Cinematography Tibor Máthé
Editing Mária Rigó
Music László Vidovszky
Sound István Sipos
Set Construction Róza Bálint
Costumes Agnes Gyarmathy
Make-Up Helga Járai
Producers Gábor Hanák, Norbert Friedländer

World Sales

Hungarian National Film Archive

Produced by

Budapest Filmstudio

Friedländer Filmproduktion

Additional information

Restoration by
Hungarian National Film Fund – Hungarian Film Archive, Budapest; Hungary

Digital image restoration: Hungarian Film Lab, Budapest; Hungary
Under the supervision of Tibor Máthé

Ildikó Enyedi

© Hanna Csata

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1955, she began her career as a concept and media artist before turning to short and feature films as a writer and director. She has received more than 40 international awards for her work. In 1992, she was a member of the Berlinale’s International Jury. Fifteen years later, her film On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.

Filmography

1981 Flirt; short film 1983 The Viewer; short film 1986 Invasion 1987 The Mole 1988 Will-o’-the-wisp 1989 Az én XX. századom (My 20th Century) · My 20th Century 1991 Winter War 1995 Magic Hunter 1997 Tamás and Juli 1999 Simon Magus 2000 Geschichten in Gesichtern 2004 EUROPA 2008 First Love 2013 TERÁPIA 1 + 2 + 3; TV series, 2012–2016 2017 Testről és lélekről (On Body and Soul) · Testről és lélekről

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020