Regional Competition

Cain's Children

Marcell Gerö
Screening time  
24.02. / Tuesday, 14:00 - 16:00 Theatre 2  
27.02. / Friday, 18:00 - 20:00 Theatre 2  
28.02. / Saturday, 15:00 - 17:00 Theatre 4  
01.03. / Sunday, 12:00 - 14:00 Theatre 5  
01.03. / Sunday, 14:00 - 16:00 Theatre 3  
01.03. / Sunday, 16:00 - 18:00 Theatre 2  
01.03. / Sunday, 20:00 - 22:00 Theatre 4  
The story of three men who become murderers as children. The story of fate, sins and Hungarian history.

In 1984, Pali, Jószef and Zsolt, three boys convicted of homicide, were filmed in communist Hungary’s most barbaric youth detention center. Thirty years later, filmmaker Marcell Gerö decided to find out what had become of the plans they had made back then. His visits to Zsolt’s mother and home village reveal the indignities he suffered as a child. He is now living in a psychiatric ward. Jószef, or Gabesz as he is now known, was 14 when he stabbed a teacher in self-defense. Now he’s a drifter and an absent father. Pali was 15 when he was sentenced to 13 years for shooting his father to death. Pali’s mother was always telling him that he was no good, and now his young daughter Valéria gets the same treatment from her stepsisters and grandmother. In probing conversations with Pali, Gabesz and Zsolt – filmed in close-up – the director assesses the pitiful sum total of their failed lives, while also making a connection between where they grew up and where they ended up.

Gero

Marcell Gerö

Marcell Gerő graduated from the University of Film and Theatre Arts in Budapest as a director in the class of János Szász. His diploma project Kócos (Shock) gained multiple awards worldwide. In 2007, he co-founded Campfilm, together with Sára László and Tamás Dobos. After producing a number of documentary and fictional shorts, he directed Cain’s Children, his first feature-length film.

General sponsor

Káin gyermekei

France, Hungary
2014, 104', DCP

Directed by:
Marcell Gerö

Screenplay by:
Marcell Gerő, Sára László

Cinematography:
Rudolf Péter Kiss, Zoltán Lovasi

Edited by:
Péter Sass, Sylvie Gadmer

Music:
Dominique Gadmer

Producers:
Sára László, Jacques Bidou, Marianne Dumoulin

Produced by:
Campfilm Production, JBA Production

Festivals & Awards:

Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2014 – The Best Human Rights Documentary Award; IDFA 2014; Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival 2014; San Sebastián International Film Festival 2014; Zurich Film Festival 2014; Stockholm Film Festival 2014; Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2014