Director Szabolcs Hajdu talks about “It’s Not the Time Of My Life” #KVIFF2016

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Szabolcs Hajdu, director of It’s Not the Time of My Life, winner of the top prize at the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Szabolcs Hajdu is one of the most exciting European filmmakers in modern times, and part of the excitement in his body of work can be seen in the varied nature of his body of work. It’s Not the Time of My Life, his latest film that had its World premiere in the official competition of the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – where it also won the festival’s top prize – is for instance quite different from the modern western Mirage, his previous feature that we previously interviewed the director for.

It’s Not the Time of My Life is a film about family and there was a special motive for Hajdu to explore such a personal theme, which resulted out of his wish to return to a type of filmmaker that did not try to communicate any weighty, political message. In fact, his concern was that he was turning into exactly that type of filmmaker too much. To encourage this personal nature of the film, which is the film version of a stage play he wrote produced and starred in, he brought in his own family to act the roles. In addition to being a celebrated and noteworthy filmmaker, Hajdu is a respected film educator and the wonderful, precise camera work was composed by 13 different DOPs who are students of his.

This winning ingredient expands the chamber piece format of the narrative, but as this interview reveals, Hajdu is equally as daring in his approach to theatre, given the fact that the play version of this film was brought to the stage in a fascinating way. Certainly one of the best films of the 2016 KVIFF.

IT’S NOT THE TIME OF MY LIFE: The renowned Hungarian filmmaker (White Palms, Bibliothèque Pascal) has come out with an intimate study of two families thrown together by circumstance to temporarily share an unusual apartment. This independent movie – outstanding for its inventive production, precisely limned characters, and performances that get under the skin – draws faithfully on the work of Cassavetes and Bergman.