20-07-2008

Made in Hungaria begins shooting

By Gyorgy Karpati

    Filming began on the adaptation of hit stage musical Made in Hungaria on July 16, and will continue through the end of summer.

    The €2 million film is shooting on location at the authentic Communist-era Icarus Community Centre, complete with a statue of Lenin.

    Gergely Fonyo (Young, Dumb and Full of Love; It's Summer at Long Last, Johnny Famous) directs. The production company is Next Station Productions (www.nextstation.hu) which had blockbuster successes with S.O.S. Love and 9 and ½ dates. The co-production partners are HCC Media Group (www.hccmedia.hu) with Jozsef Cirko as producer, and Sunny Film (www.sunnyfilm.hu). Media partner is commercial Hungarian TV channel TV2 (www.tv2.hu) which was also involved in S.O.S. Love and 9 and ½ dates.

    The original stage musical Made in Hungaria ran for seven year, attracting 150,000 people. The story of the play is based on the life of Hungarian pop singer Miklos Fenyo whose family emigrated to America. Fenyo returned in the sixties as a teenager, established a rock n' roll band, and became a Hungarian sensation after winning a national talent contest.

    The movie is planned to be released in 2009 on Valentine's Day, following the path of Next Station Productions' two previous films.