The Nest

Synopsis

Imagine a series where the brave and determined protagonist of The Queen’s Gambit moves into the glamorous world of Cotton Club, Miss Arizona, or Lili Marleen during the era of Babylon Berlin and Transatlantic. Welcome to The Nest Club!

This is a historical drama series set in Budapest about the art scene of the 1930s and 40s from the point of view of a young singer coming from a Christian background. Personal tragedies, horrors of World War II, the loss of friends and relatives, the pain of survival, and love. This is a coming-of-age story partly based on the autobiography Deadly Carousel, written by the daughter of our protagonist, and it incorporates both original events and characters.

The 8-episode series is not only a homage to the Nest Club but also tells the story of Vali Rácz, a real singer, over the course of ten years. Each part depicts nearly one year between 1936 and 1945. We follow her in an increasingly fascist Hungary as she tries to focus on building her career, love life, and her artistic community. As she is getting deeper and deeper into the dark era of fascism, she gets involved with the resistance by saving her persecuted friends and acquaintances. We are with her as she falls in love for the first time with a young pianist, and later as she becomes involved in a secret, all-consuming love affair with the Jewish director of the club. We are with her when her lover gets executed by the Hungarian Nazi Party, the Arrow Cross, and when at the end of the series, amidst the physical and emotional ruins of war, she faces the dilemma of leaving or staying in Hungary. Through Vali’s story, which is based on real events, places and figures, we get a glimpse into the world of the Nest Club, which members included world famous artists such as Ferenc Molnár, Pál Szinyei Merse, Mihály Kertész (Michael Curtiz), and leading politicians such as Adolf Eichmann or Raoul Wallenberg.

About the Director

FERENC TÖRÖK was born on April 23, 1971 in Budapest, Hungary. He has received Béla Balázs Award, a state recognition for outstanding achievement in filmmaking. Török is a member of the European FilmAcademy. He is known for Moszkva tér (2001), Szezon (2004), Overnight,(2007), Isztambul (2011) and Senki szigete (2014). His latest film 1945 (2017) was premiered at Berlinale in February and since then was presented at several festivals. It won important prizes, included the Yad Vashem Award at Jerusalem IFF.

Artistic Statement

Fészek (Nest) Club is my favourite place, I am still it’s artistic chairman. I want to save it’s fantastic history for the future.

The building is intact, it’s story is wonderful. This would have been enough for a film, but I discovered the life story of the singer Vali Rácz, who performed there in the 1930s. This connection helped me a lot to form the basis of the story. The international success of my previous film, the feature film “1945”, makes me ambitious to think that it is worth dealing with history because people are curious about our past.

World War II hit the entire civilian world senselessly and is still very close to our present. It has a direct impact on our own lives. Our story is not only a Hungarian story, it’s rather universal. What does solidarity, community and art mean? These are difficult questions. I believe that this series speaks to a wide international audience. There are many secrets, untold dramas in our story. “War films” are relevant today. The enlightened world thought we had got rid of war for good. But we didn’t.

We want to tell the story of Vali Rácz in 8×52 minutes. Each episode will tell the story of nearly a year between 1936 and 1945. Each episode will include a song reflecting on the story, events and characters of the episode. Each episode presents a cultural event from the life of the Nest, exhibition openings, balls, musical and theatrical performances, assemblies of artistic groups, debates, cabaret evenings, etc. The historical and political context of the year, the events of the approaching war, are also shown in each episode.

The camera lends an expressive, dramatic effect to the dynamic compositions throughout. The ominous, pre-war, “NOIR” atmosphere is dominant in the film. Contemporary stage music, live poetry and dance performances set the scene for the film. A lot of original music will be used, mainly archival, which will add to the historical authenticity. The film is not a musical, but there is a lot of live music from the period, as most of the film takes place in a night club. Poems and songs from the period become part of the story. The greatest figures of contemporary art and architecture are evoked, not to mention the strong representation of literary life.

I, as a member of the third generation after the war, am looking for answers to the same questions as my contemporaries: how did Europe and Hungary get to the horrors of WW2? What were the historical and moral antecedents of this process? How did World War I affect Hungarian society and art? What traumas led to the moral disintegration of an entire society? How can humanity be preserved in the chaos of war? These questions have not been discussed much here, and I would like to fill this gap.