Liza, the Fox Fairy

Plot summary

Liza is a 30-year-old, naïve, lonely nurse living in "Csudapest", the capital of a fictionalized 1970s Hungary with a capitalist system. She has taken care of Marta, the widow of the former Japanese ambassador, for the last 12 years. On her 30th birthday Liza goes to a Mekk Burger restaurant to find romance, upon reading about it in a Japanese romance novel. While she’s away, Marta is killed by Liza’s only friend, Tomy Tani, the ghost of a Japanese pop singer from the 1950s, resulting in Liza inheriting her apartment. Relatives report Liza to the police for murdering Marta. Sergeant Zoltan is put on the case, who gets very nearly killed in the process, and falls slowly in love with Liza after moving into her apartment as a flatmate. She gains confidence, but all her dating efforts end in fatal accidents. Liza is convinced that she has become a fox-fairy, a demon from Japanese mythology. According to the legend, men who fall in love with a fox-fairy die soon afterwards.

Cast

Mónika Balsai as Liza, the Fox-Fairy

David Sakurai as Tomy Tani

Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas as Sergeant Zoltán

Piroska Molnár as Márta, the widow of a Japanese Ambassador to Hungary

Zoltán Schmied as Henrik

Antal Cserna as Károly

Gábor Reviczky as police Colonel

Mariann Kocsis as Hildácska

Ági Gubík as Inge

Lehel Kovács as Mr. Ludvig

Győző Szabó: Mr B., or Jonny

János Bán as Heartbreak

István Hajdu as Ferenc, a manager

László Nádasi as staff sergeant

Sándor Szűcs as police doctor

Nóra Diána Takács as Police Secretary

Dezső Rancsó as chimney sweeper

Vali Dániel as Teri

Zsuzsa Töreky as Edit

Mária Bókay as Vilma

István Gőz as Dr. Keserű

Kata Bartsch as Kriszta

Klára Jarábik as Orsi

Rodrigo Crespo as Orsi's husband

Batjav Batod as Eskimo

Zoltán Karácsonyi as Teleshop Giovanni

Katalin Kiss Horváth as Johnny's daughter

Orsolya Mihály as Mekk Burger's salesgirl

Andrea Balázs as sick-nurse

Katalin Ben as Malvinka

Kata Losonczi as Timi

Gyöngy Bérces as Cosmo cover girl

Gábor Harsányi as Narrator (voice)

Production

The film is based on the play Liselotte és a május by Zsolt Pozsgai. The Japanese theme was added by Károly Ujj Mészáros, who was fascinated by Japanese culture, especially pop music from the 1960s and 1970s. He was also attracted by similarities between Japanese and Hungarian traditions. He had directed several commercials in Japan, which gave him further familiarity with Japanese culture. The film was produced by FilmTeam with co-production support from Origo Film Group. The budget was 420 million forint (1,6 million USD), of which 220 million came from the Hungarian National Film Fund. The cast rehearsed for a month before filming started.

Premiere and festival screenings

Budapest premiere: February 19, 2015

International premiere: Fantasporto Film Festival (Portugal), March 2, 2015

Asian premiere: Osaka Asian Film Festival (Japan), March 10, 2015

South-American premiere: Pantalla Pinamar (Argentina), March 11, 2015

Dutch premiere: Imagine: Film Festival (Netherlands), April 12, 2015

North American premiere: Seattle International Film Festival (USA), May 25, 2015

Tromsø International Film Festival: Film Festival (Norway), 2016

Awards

– 2015

35th edition of the Oporto international Film Festival – Fantasporto

- Grand Prix of the fantasy competition and - Special Effects Award

31st Imagine Film Festival

- Silver Scream Award, Méliès d’Argent for the best European fantastic filmnominated for Golden Méliès - The audiences top-3 of the festival

33rd Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF)

- 7th Orbit Award for Best Film (haven’t already been presented at Brussels and have been produced in the last two years, attributed by a national jury of professionals) - The Pegasus Award, Prize of the Audience

Nocturna 2015 - Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival

- "Paul Naschy" Award(Best Film) - Best Director - Best Play: Actor (Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas) and Actress (Mónika Balsai) - Best Screenplay - Best Special Effects

Fantaspoa - XI. International Fantastic Film Festival of Porto Alegre

- Best Actress (Mónika Balsai)

41st Seattle International Film Festival

- Grand Jury Prize, New Directors Competition (Károly Ujj Mészáros)

8th CinEmaCity International Film Festival - Serbia and the region

- Cineuropa Prize, which singles out the best international film hailing from the Danube countries

10th Fantastic Fest - Austin

- Audience award 2nd Place

21st Lund International Fantastic Film Festival − Lund

- Siren Award for best international film, - Audience Award for Best Feature

4th Monsters of Film - Stockholm

- Audience Award for Best Feature

3rd Cellar Door Film Festival - Ottawa

- Audience Award for Best Feature

15th Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles

- Best Film "Hungarians in Hollywood" Award: Károly Ujj Mészáros - Best Actress Award jury prize: Mónika Balsai

29th Leeds International Film Festival - Leeds

- Audience Award for New Narrative Feature

17th European Film Festival in Essonne - Ris-Orangis

- Grand Prix (2015)

– 2016

54th Hungarian Film Critics Award - Budapest

- Best First Film of 2015 (Károly Ujj Mészáros)

2nd Hungarian Film Week: Hungarian Film Award - Budapest

- Best Feature (Károly Ujj Mészáros) - Best Director (Károly Ujj Mészáros) - Best Actress (Mónika Balsai) - Best Film-editor (Judit Czakó) - Best Scenery and Costumes (Balázs Hujber, Ibolya Bárdosi) - Best Film composers (Ambrus Tövisházi, Dániel Csengery) - Best makeup, hairdressing and make-up artist (Csilla Horváth, Erzsébet Rácz, Nóra Kapás)

13th Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival - Monaco

- Best Actress (Mónika Balsai)