Creator:
Featuring:
The Upthrown Stone
Breaking Point '70 is a series showcasing five Hungarian films from the late 60s and early 70s, with five iconic directors each providing audiences with their interpretation of the nature of freedom. Exploring this theme in that era was especially challenging, as every film was aiming to test the limits of the regime's tolerance (Péter Bacsó successfully overstepped these boundaries with his 1969 film, The Witness). The opening feature is a Sándor Sára production, The Upthrown Stone. It is Sára's first feature-length film as both director and cinematographer. Although he already had a sizeable portfolio behind him as cinematographer, this was the first time he expressed - in a very personal way - his thoughts on fate and freedom as a director. He demonstrates what it is like to live in a world where the ruling regime is the author of your fate. The film is riddled with hidden references to his own personal story while at the same time steeped in empathy towards society. This may as well have constituted as an open provocation at the time.
However, the bravery of The Upthrown Stone goes beyond these references, making Sára one of the most courageous cinematographers of his time (for reference, see his films: The Current, Father, Ten Thousand Days and Szindbád). The images throughout the film are composed with such visual prowess that they would work as stand-alone photographs if cut from the movie, which should come as no surprise as Sándor Sára's work as a photographer is also noteworthy. A new form of visual storytelling emerges here too, where, instead of employing dramatic scenes, the filmmaker carries the audience through a very peculiar organisation of the images, all of which follow an inner logic. Sára sheds clichés when he deems necessary and turns the picture on its head - both literally and figuratively speaking - at will. He brings us a powerful and disturbing world from a deeply personal perspective.
The series is made possible by the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA)
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
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