Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Chuchotage’

Review Fix chats with Chuchotage director Barnabás Tóth, who lets us know why the recent Oscar Shortlisted film is a special one.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be Oscar-shortlisted

Barnabás Tóth: Very strange. First euphoria, then panic, then soft happiness with pride, now panic again. It changes from day to day.

Review Fix: How did you get involved with this project?

Tóth: This was my original idea, my script. I entered a script contest with it, and the amount of money I won was enough to start building a budget.

Review Fix: What attracted you to it the most?

Tóth: The romantic comedy side of it, I love to entertain people. Also it was high time someone make a movie about conference interpreters. Have you ever seen one?

Review Fix: What have you learned from it?

Tóth: That you always have to keep things simple. Don’t put too much content and message in a short film. But that simplicity has to be executed with the utmost attention and exigence from cast to editing.

Review Fix: What was the feeling like on set?

Tóth: Rather good. It was intense: only 2 days! The DOP and I were very focused since we had a story-board and talked over everything for long and exhausting discussions. I don’t say we didn’t face problems but we were able to fix them. At the end of the 2nd day, already in bed at night,  I remember I was laughing with my wife who is always in the set with me. We had this feeling the movie would work well.

Review Fix: How did this film affect you?

Tóth: After two films which didn’t work as well as I hoped, it gave my self-confidence back. And I always learn a lot with every movie. There is so much hype around it in Hungaria media due to the Oscar shortlist that it can confirm me as a “trustworthy” filmmaker.

Review Fix: How do you want people to be affected by this film?

Tóth: I hope they don’t think about their problems for 16 minutes. That the next day(s) they will re-think of the film with a smile. That it brings nice memories and they can make instant connection to their own life.

Review Fix: Who will appreciate this film the most?

Tóth: Probably the conference interpreters. They already do. It can be their “cult” movie.

Review Fix: Why should people see this film?

Tóth: Because its heart-warming, funny, thought-provoking and easy to love. 

Review Fix: How would you like it to be remembered?

Tóth: As my last short movie before making a dozen features.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Tóth: I just finished post-production on Someone to live for, my second feature, it’s a wonderful human story, set in 1949 Budapest, the complicated relationship between a 442-year-old doctor and a 16 year old girl, who both lost everyone in the war.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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