Post Mortem: Hungarian horror film submitted for Oscar consideration

Last Updated on October 8, 2021

Director Péter Bergendy’s Hungarian horror film Post Mortem has been screened at more than twenty genre festivals since its premieres at the Warsaw and Sitges film festivals last year, and its next stop may be the Academy Awards ceremony. Post Mortem has been selected to represent Hungary in the race to earn the Best International Feature Film nomination at next year’s Oscars. The film was chosen as Hungary’s top contender by the Hungarian Oscar Committee; Variety reports that this committee includes “Csaba Káel, the government commissioner for the development of the Hungarian motion picture industry, and chairman of the National Film Institute director Csaba Bereczki, director Kristóf Deák, screenwriter Tibor Fonyódi, film distribution expert András Kálmán, producer Ákos Pesti, and Emil Novák, a cinematographer”.

Scripted by Piros Zánkay from a story Bergendy crafted with Gábor Hellebrandt, Post Mortem is a supernatural horror film that centers on

a post-mortem photographer and a young girl confronting ghosts in a haunted village after World War I.

Viktor Klem, Fruzsina Hais, Judit Schell, Andrea Ladányi, Zsolt Anger, Gábor Reviczky, Gabriella Hámori, András Balogh, Diána Kiss, and Mari Nagy star.

Post Mortem was produced by Tamás Lajos and Ábel Köves of Szupermodern Stúdió. I haven’t seen the film, but it’s nice to hear that Hungary believes a horror movie is their best chance at securing an Oscar nomination this year.

We’ll know whether or not Post Mortem made the cut when the Oscar shortlist is announced on December 21st. The film has already won prizes at the Trieste, Fantasporto, Sombra and Parma genre festivals. At this year’s Hungarian Motion Picture Awards it won awards for its cinematography, editing, production design, and make-up.

Even if it doesn’t end up getting an Academy Award nomination, I’m going to have to check this one out at some point.