The International Jury of Fantasporto Directors’ Week, Anton Bitel, Nigel Floyd film critics (Rotten Tomatoes, Film Total, Sight & Sound) from the UK and Portuguese director Luís Diogo (A Sublime Life), awarded Hungarian first time filmmaker Béla Bagota Best Director and Best Screenplay trophies for Valan – Valley Of Angels.  

“Valan is a thrilling and heart breaking story of missing children. Peter tries to save them as a policeman from the big city criminal groups and give them back to their families. But through the investigation about his sister he has to face more complicated answers and solutions about this problem. Children could be kidnapped with violence, they can escape by their own choices, they can be abused or exploited by their own families just because of money... or children could be saved in other ways. I hope that our film can give more than an exciting thriller to the audience and finally it can leak deep under their skin.” – noted screenwriter-director Béla Bagota.  

László Kántor and Béla Bagota in Porto

Béla Bagota’s first feature film is a suspenseful and heart wrenching psychological thriller, a completely new voice in Hungarian filmmaking. International sales are handled by NFI World Sales link: http://www.nfiworldsales.com/films/current-films/item/242-valan  

Béla Bagota made several shorts during the university: Side by Side (17'), Mea Culpa (27'), Frustration (25'). His short film, With Clean Hands won the prize of the Best Graduation film of the University of Theatre & Film, Budapest in 2010. After the film school he worked with Kornél Mundruczó as an assistant director on Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project. In the last years, he worked as a 1st AD on Hungarian films and co-productions (Heavenly Shift, Galloping Mind, Well, Lajkó – Gypsy in Space, Bad Poems) and as 2nd AD on US productions filmed in Hungary (The Martian - dir. Ridley Scott).