Mirage - Szabolcs Hajdu - Hungary

Mirage (Hungary, 2014) by Eurochannel

Airing times Mirage (Délibáb, 2014) Hungary Director: Szabolcs Hajdu Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Razvan Vasilescu, Orsolya Török-Illyés Genre: Western Length: 85’ Presentation: A tale about modern Hungary, racism, equality, power, and freedom. Eurochannel premiers Mirage. A bare sun stretching to the horizon, tanning in the middle, only the air trembles - a black figure in sunglasses and a sports bag appears. This is Francis, a soccer player from the Ivory Coast, who is wanted by the police for match fixing. He keeps walking and a few kilometers and one major address later, arrives at a weedy, crumbling train station. He climbs onto the ancient train wreck, and ends up in the middle of nowhere on a farm, run by Cisco and his henchman, armed with AK47s. The farm, far from civilization, is in the hands of a gang of gangsters, who make the local people who have been deprived of their pensions, and also those who flee from the law, work as slaves. Francis finds refuge on this farm cut off from the world deep in the heart of the wilderness, but he soon realizes that the farm is actually a modern-day slave colony. With his appearance, he stirs up the lives of the locals, the apathetic prisoners see him as their savior, and Cisco, who rules as a little king, sees him as his rival. However, Francis does not desire the role of the hero, he tries to escape at the first opportunity, but it is impossible to find his way in the plain and deceptive landscape. The initial happiness of just being free soon turns out to be a mirage, and he ends up back where he started. Francis, a man of few words, can react to the sufferings of the enslaved people on the farm in several ways: He can make friends with the machine-gunned oppressors, leave, or change the status quo, and he decides to do the latter. His attempt to escape lands him among the slaves, and against his will he becomes a rebel. The hardest match of his life begins, the stake is not only freedom, but survival itself. After the unsuccessful escape, chance finally brings him to try to overthrow the rule of the Ciscos. Synopsis: An African football player committed a crime and has to escape. He finds refuge on a remote farm in Eastern Europe. When he realizes that the farm is a modern slave camp, he is forced to fight for his freedom and life. Awards and festivals: • Cleveland International Film Festival 2015 - Nominee - George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Film Competition Airing times