empty horses
Experimental found footage film written and directed by Peter Lichter (67mins, Hungary, 2019)
Experimental satire EMPTY HORSES documents an encounter between two much celebrated and very deceased Hungarian film directors. Michael Curtiz (1886-1962), the Oscar-winning director of Casablanca, responsible for shooting more than 40 movies during Hollywood’s Golden Age, is recognised as one of history’s most prolific directors. Gábor Bódy (1946-1985), in contrast, was a pioneer of experimental filmmaking and film language, as well as a renowned academic theorist in his field.
Our two spirits are locked into the metaphysical screening room of their minds and struggle to make sense of their new reality and its creative possibilities. With two fundamentally different cinematic approaches, a prickly dialog plays out between two geniuses as they hold forth on life, work and art, while we are immersed in an associative collage of Hollywood classic and avant-garde imagery. Curtiz’s and Bódy’s anecdotes and personal dramas illuminate universal and contemporary questions of filmmaking, as the experience of the collective filmic memory washes over us.
director-editor: Péter Lichter
cast: Pál Mácsai, Roland Rába
writer: Bence Kránicz, Gábor Roboz, Péter Lichter
DOP: Dávid Gerencsér
music: Ádám Márton Horváth
sound: Péter Benjámin Lukács
producer: Dora Nedeczky, Péte Lichter, Bori Máté
production manager: Botond Emődy
consultant: Gábor Gelencsér
special thanks: Hungarian National Film Archive, Yvonne Kerékgyártó, György Ráduly, Roger Deutsch
director’s bio:
Péter Lichter is a Hungarian experimental filmmaker. He studied film history and film theory at the ELTE University, Budapest. Péter makes found footage abstract films, lyrical documentaries and experimental features since 2002. His films were screened at festivals and venues like: Tribeca Film Festival – New York; Rotterdam IFF; Jihlava IDFF; goEast – Wiesbaden; EXiS – Seoul; CROSSROADS – San Francisco; VideoEX – Zürich; Festival of (In)appropriation – Los Angeles; Antimatter – Victoria, Canada; etc. He is also one of the editors of the Prizma film-periodical, his first book on experimental cinema (A láthatatlan birodalom / The Invisible Empire) was published in 2016, his second and third book were published in 2018. Peter frequently collaborates with composer Ádám Márton Horváth, sound designer Péter Benjámin Lukács and artists, like Loránd Szécsény-Nagy and Bori Máté. His first feature-length film (Frozen May) was released in 2017, his second feature The Rub (with Bori Máté) was premiered at the Berlinale Critics’ Week and was released in 2018.