In the second half of the 2020s — because of the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, followed almost simultaneously by eruptions of its nearest neighbours — an ash cloud spread over the craters, covering not only the surrounding landscape but soon darkening the skies over half of Europe.

The raging volcano activated its larger neighbours, Hekla and Katla, causing earthquakes, mudflows and a tsunami and forcing the inhabitants of the island’s southeast to flee their homes at lightning speed.

Europe had barely recovered from the first shock when the Icelandic events were followed by a giant eruption of Etna in Sicily, less than a week and a half later. The ash clouds triggered radical weather changes across the continent: the average temperature fell by five degrees Celsius, and the beginning of the cold season shifted forward by months.

The Smallest Ice Age arrived in our free Hungarian homeland as well.

Children built snowmen from the October snow, skating rinks opened on the Danube, and constant flight restrictions made major travel impossible. In this cataclysm, the visibly permanent, stable societies were shaken, and human consciousness itself was shaken too. Yet despite this — or precisely because of it — Europe’s people began to draw closer, even huddling together; the life of micro-communities became more intimate and refined… The continent’s reproductive culture, almost incapable of creating anything new, seemed to be stirring again.

The shaken European value system found new supports. Fragments of religion and culture were forged into unity again. New life awoke among the wreckage of a declining civilisation… Apparently. But the worst is yet to come.

An illegal movement, the national fundamentalists (also known as shamanist anarchists), are preparing to overthrow the unity government in Hungary.

Cast:
MÁTRAI, ROBI later Nagykoppány — Adrián Samudovszky
FRUZSINA, LÍVIA BINDER — Melitta Pallagi
GYŐZŐ LABANCZ, ETELE, BÉLA TÁRKÁNY, Patrician — Dániel Lovas
ZOLTÁN RADÁK, Chief master-at-arms, Climate historian — Gergely Váradi
GYULA BINDER, BERTALAN PISPEK, LEVENTE, Astrologist — Tibor Juhász
IVÁN DOLINA, LABORC, BILL CLINTON, MÓR JÓKAI — Mihály Bánki
LAURA, BLANKA, RÓZA LABORFALVI — Dominika Rezes
ALMA SZEMERÉDY, FABRÍCIA, MÁRIA — Lilla Csenge Cseke

Also: civil guards, fundamentalists, media personalities and others.

Set design: Mira Simonyi-Lengyel
Cinematographer: Soma Varga
Lighting design: Ádám Langó
Composer: Mihály Bánki, SUNO

The script was edited by Dániel Máté Sándor based on János Térey’s novel The Smallest Ice Age and the author’s own adaptation.

Photos: Lázár Todoroff

* with intermission *

Duration: 02:40

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