PRODUCTION: Benő Baranyi in post-production with Hungarian sci-fi comedy about time travel

BUDAPEST: Benő Baranyi is currently in post-production with his first feature film Zanox, a sci-fi comedy about a high school student who, after consuming an experimental drug with palinka, is able to time travel. The cast includes Hungarian and Romanian actors.

The idea for the film was born when the director was a teenager. The protagonist Misi is a shy boy, who is secretly in love with the bold and energetic Janka. He manages to overcome his panic disorder and inhibitions with the help of time travel.

Misi is played by Előd Bálint, who graduated in 2021 as an actor in the Budapest University of Theater and Film Arts in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Lili Erdős, student of the Budapest University of Theater and Film Arts, appears as Janka. The cast includes Romanian actor András Hatházi, alongside Katalin Sólyom, Kevin Hozák, Ronett Radvánszky, Ágnes Máhr, Lídia Danis, Benett Vilmányi, Már Megint Kitty and Vivien Vasvári.

“No gender becomes dominant in Zanox. I’ve always been enthusiastic about hybrid genre films. Pure genre films usually can’t captivate me, I get bored with them. I like to be surprised by something, like a mix of genres that I’ve never seen before, ”Baranyi told FNE. He envisages Zanox as a mix of sci-fi, comedy, action, and coming-of-age movies.

The film was shot in Budapest and in the Hungarian industrial towns of Komló and Dunaújváros. “Instinctively, everyone is drawn to slightly grainy places. I don’t know why, but for example every high school student loves a dilapidated and abandoned factory building, ”the principal also said.

Zanox is a 100% Hungarian co-production, produced by Zsuzsi Gyurin and Dániel Molnár through Salamander movie in co-production with Judit Romwalter through SPARKS. The total budget is 368,360 EUR / 13 million HUF.

It was produced with the support of the Incubator Program of the National Film Institute – Hungary with a production subsidy of EUR 187,830 / HUF 67 million. The Incubator Program was created in 2015 to help young directors make their first feature films.

The production had 19 shooting days between July 27 and August 27, 2021. As the film’s story takes place on May 13, 2022, the film will be released in Hungarian cinemas around that date.

Benő Baranyi graduated from Budapest University of Theater and Film Arts and graduated in short film Anja made its world premiere as part of the student competition program of the Sarajevo Film Festival, later receiving two awards at the Berlin International Short Film Festival.

Manufacturing information:

Producer:
Film Salamandra (Hungary)
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Co-producer:
Sparks (Hungary)

Credits:
Director: Benő Baranyi
Writer: Benő Baranyi
Chief Executive Officer: David Gajdics
Actors: Előd Bálint, Lili Erdős, András Hatházi, Katalin Sólyom, Kevin Hozák, Ronett Radvánszky, Ágnes Máhr, Lídia Danis, Benett Vilmányi, Már Megint Kitty, Vivien Vasvári