“Ranks among the best cinematic treatments of the Holocaust.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times

PROFOUND & MAJESTIC!”
– Kyle Smith, The New York Post

“It’s almost mystically translucent.
Koltai’s visual ideas can be quietly audacious...
FATELESS is more sustained than either
(SCHINDLER’S LIST and THE PIANIST),
the least narrative and the most existential
of Holocaust reconstructions.
This isn’t a movie that I’d have thought possible;
it’s an auspicious opening for the new year.”
– J. Hoberman, Village Voice

AN EPIC ADAPTATION OF THE CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC NOVEL BY NOBEL PRIZE-WINNER IMRE KERTESZ (which he adapted for the screen), FATELESS is set in 1944 as Hitler’s Final Solution becomes policy throughout Europe. Gyura, a 14-year-old Jewish boy from Budapest (Marcell Nagy in an unforgettable performance) finds himself swept up by cataclysmic events beyond his comprehension and suddenly separated from his family as part of the rushed and random deportation of the city’s large Jewish population.

As a concentration camp inmate, Gyura’s existence becomes a surreal adventure in adversity and adaptation. When he returns home after the liberation, he is alienated – from both his Christian neighbors, who turned a blind eye to his fate, and to those Jewish friends who avoided deportation and now want to put the war behind them. A stunning directorial debut by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lajos Koltai, FATELESS has been chosen as Hungary's Official Entry for the 2005 Best Foreign Language Academy Award, in addition to recently receiving two nominations from the 2005 European Film Awards – for European Cinematographer for Gyula Pados and European Composer for Ennio Morricone.