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“Leave a record. Preserve the facts. “There Was Once ...” serves that function precisely.” “…a worthy document…” David DeWitt, The New York Times “…vitally personal…” “…unusual, quietly understated but deeply affecting...” “…achingly beautiful…“ “Mago is an incredible woman and through her we see how one person can make a difference…” “The teaming of Mago and Kalman is genius and together they give us a beautiful film…” “Mago and Kalman relate tragic family histories with sensitivity and insight.” “…definitely recommended…” “…a moving account of discovery, memory and setting up safeguards.” ““There Was Once … starts out like a teacher’s history lesson about a vanished past, but turns into a detective story as memories collide, old photographs and documents link to living witnesses, and, worse, a nightmare starts to repeat.
” “Theo Alexopoulos’ motion graphics breathe life into what just a few years ago would have been old pictures on a copy stand
” COMMENTS “A compelling, provocative story” “Very strong” "There Was Once ... is a beautifully crafted and affecting film that reminds us how the past continues to live in the present and the importance of remembering." Mark Jonathan Harris "Gabor Kalman's new documentary film is a masterpiece based on the meticulous reconstruction of two incredible, intertwining stories. The film presents the destruction of the Jewry of the Hungarian city of Kalocsa in 1944 and follows how a gentile teacher from a later generation carefully and systematically succeeds in unearthing that incomparable Jewish-Hungarian tragedy. Gabor takes us back to his hometown Kalocsa where none of the Jews are to be found who once formed a vibrant and productive community and who perished in the Hungarian Holocaust. The emphasis of this beautiful film, however, is increasingly on how this young teacher gradually realizes what had happened several generations ago and tries to teach the lessons to her own students in a Kalocsa school and to the larger community of the town today. A deeply moving, unusual, and poetic vision of the Holocaust and how it survives in the minds of Hungarian people, young and old, who go back with a time machine to the bygone world of Atlantis, a world so irreal and unimaginable, and yet so threateningly reawakening today." "At a moment when educators and school librarians around the country are fighting for their jobs, here, finally, a gifted filmmaker shows the difference one good teacher can make. Gabor Kalman's endlessly surprising new film is a testament to the power of dynamic storytelling -- whether on a screen or in a classroom -- to raise the dead." "It feels urgent-as well as elegiac and scary, and hopeful" "It is subtle, powerful, poignant and disturbing" Andrew Solt, Director "…haunting and beautifully made…it should be an inspiration for educators in terms of their responsibilities." Richard Fung Professor, Faculty of Art OCAD University
“…haunting, evocative” “After a week now many scenes continue to play out in my mind, something I can say about few films I have seen this year” “Touching film” “[a] deep and elegant film” "it lifts your spirits knowing that amongst all the bad there are a few wonderful people like Gyongyi…I am sure Kalocsa is proud of her." Susanne Reyto "mesmerizing … I was truly taken with it. …whomever did the music was a genius" Yale Udoff Playwrite - Screenwriter "szivemre szoritott kézzel, könnyeimmel küzdve jöttem el. Nagyon szép, igazi-a szó legjobb értelmében, igazi documentum filmet csináltál. Finom, mély, érzékeny de nem érzelgős és valódi volt." Almasy Marianne "I thought the film was beautifully made and very moving; liked the score a lot and kiss your editor for me." Michael Bortman Screenwriter - Director "What an outstanding film - heartbreaking, yet exceptionally inspiring." Sarah Gilson Film Editor "Truthful, deeply moving, tragic but never sentimental. I would love to see it again" Daisy Gerber Director
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