Istenmezején, 1972–73-ban

This moving, sensitive documentary diptych was made in the 70s in the village of Istenmezején in a rural mining region where men and boys work in the mine and marry young girls at the age of 15. It is the portrait of two girls called Ilonka und Marika who have to decide between working in the fields or school, marriage or moving to the city, without the decision really being theirs. “This sociographic study shows Elek’s fascination for people, dwellings and places. It’s about the living conditions for young women in a small village, their acts of resistance, their longings. At the same time, the film expands its scope beyond the individual fates of the women via different documentary elements relating to space and time while never becoming unspecific.” (Friederike Horstmann)