Carte Rouge, a 2024 feature film by Hungarian director Sándor Gerebics, will have its premiere in Los Angeles, California at the end of this month, on 31 May at Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists. The event is hosted by the Consulate General of Hungary in Los Angeles.
The movie is set at the end of World War I, and centres around the creation of its titular subject. ‘Carte Rouge,’ the Red Map was created by the Hungarian Count Pál Teleki and his team of scientists to present the ethnic make-up of the Carpathian Base to the victorious Entente powers at the Paris peace negotiations. It also depicts the dramatized version of those negotiations, with the Hungarian delegation led by Count Albert Apponyi fighting to keep their home country as intact as possible.
Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory as per the conditions of the Treaty of Trianon, which is regarded as one of the greatest national tragedies by Hungarians to this day.
At the Los Angeles premiere, director Sándor Gerebics, screenwriter Pál Szalóczy, actress Réka Hegyi, and actor István Auerbach (who plays the role of Count Abonyi in the film) will also be engaging in a panel discussion in front of the audience. Previously, director Gerebics revealed in an interview with Hungarian public media in May 2024 that the initial inspiration for the film came from screenwriter Szalóczy in 2020, who wanted to shoot a speech written by Count Aponyi that he never actually delivered.
‘Historical films in some sense have taken on the role of ballads of the old days. They help cope with traumas,’ he added during the discussion.
Related articles:
