This is an animated documentary about the escapades of three Hungarian friends in the early 1990s, a time when people in Hungary could finally travel abroad after the opening of the borders, but hardly anyone could afford to do so. To roam the world, they come up with a simple ticket forgery scheme, which soon turns into a lucrative black market business. But before long, they attract the attention of the police...
Director's Statement
I have been collecting stories of travellers using fake international train tickets since 2011, when I came across a group of forgers who were more than willing to share their experiences. Between 2011 and 2021, we recorded more than 40 hours of audio interviews with forgers, travellers, the authorities, and former employees of the Hungarian State Railways.
The motives connecting these stories were the desire for freedom and the joy of travel. I also belong to the generation which experienced the opportunities provided by free travel after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
As a visual artist, it soon became clear to me that the story should be told in the genre of an animated documentary, which provides a certain freedom regarding the form while keeping the authenticity of real events; also providing the opportunity to produce Hungary's first feature length animated documentary.
Animation is an abstraction. It is an opportunity, a tool to display reality. But only live-action recordings can reproduce the reality exactly how we see and know it because a live-action recording is a photographic image. These scenes strengthen the documentary character of the animated film. These scenes are windows to reality and balance the animation with the document.