This week marks the commencement of the 73rd Berlinale, the prestigious annual film festival that runs in Berlin, Germany. This year will see an adventurous entry in the form of a Hungarian/Slovak co-production entitled White Plastic Sky, an animated science fiction feature.

The film, partially funded by the Hungarian National Film Institute, is the latest effort from the Hungarian creative team of Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó, both graduates of Budapest’s famous Moholy-Nagy University of Art. While White Plastic Sky is their feature-length debut, their previous shorts: Les Conquérants and Leftover were met with acclaim and screened at venues like the Sundance FIlm Festival; both being short-listed for the César Award.

Daily Variety, which reported on the film’s inception way back in 2018, summarized the plot as such, “White Plastic Sky takes place in Budapest in 2220. The soil of the earth hasn’t been fertile for 100 years, causing the extinction of wildlife. In Budapest, the survivors are sheltered in a large bubble that protects them from the ultraviolet light and pollution. The future of humanity relies on a mysterious plant created from genetic experiments that people must absorb by the age of 50, leading them to transform themselves into plants. The story is told through the lives of a young couple, Stefan and Nora, who are grieving the loss of their son.”

The stills and trailer — below — display striking and detailed animation work, compliments of the painstaking rotoscope technique used to draw the characters one frame at a time. The Berlinale is an ideal venue for screening, as it’s a festival known for being both artistically adventurous and political. White Plastic Sky is both.

The film-makers were quoted in Budapest Reporter as saying: “We are delighted and honored to have our film debut at the Berlinale, one of the world’s most prestigious festivals, in the Encounters section, which is specifically designed to showcase innovative films that seek new perspectives and depart from the traditional. The work of many, many people over many years is finally being brought to the audience, and we are excited both for the festival and for the Hungarian premiere at the end of March.”

Below is the intense Hungarian language trailer with English subtitles.

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