Each year, one of the world’s most prestigious film magazines, Variety, compiles a list of breakthrough actors, directors, comedians, animators, producers, cinematographers, and screenwriters. This year, Hungarian screenwriter Kata Wéber, who wrote the script of Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó’s latest film, Pieces of a Woman, has been included on the list of ten young, notable talents to look for in 2020 among screenwriters.
According to the magazine, the screenwriters on this year’s list are already gaining accolades for their films. Variety executive editor Steven Gaydos called the 2020 selections “emblematic of what is needed from filmmakers in this unsettled and challenging time. These screenwriters are taking on the big issues confronting the world, but they’re also making sure their stories are grounded in empathy for their widely diverse, wildly original characters.”
The list included Hungarian screenwriter Kata Wéber as well, who wrote the screenplay for Pieces of a Woman based on her own multi-award-winning play. Wéber is a permanent creator for the Proton Theater, but she also wrote scripts for Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó’s White God and the Moon of Jupiter, among others.
Her latest script, ‘Pieces of a Woman’ is set in Boston and follows the story of a mother who has lost her child after an ill-fated home birth. According to Kornél Mundruczó and his co-creator, Kata Wéber, this is their most personal film to date, as it was inspired by the grief the director and his screenwriter partner suffered when they lost their own child.
The American-Canadian production features a star-studded cast, including Shia LeBeouf, Vanessa Kirby, Ellen Burstyn, and Sarah Snook. Leading actress Kirby has won the Best Actress award at the 77th Venice International Film Festival for the film. The director’s first foreign-made, English-language work won the Young Cinema Award of the festival as well.
In addition to Wéber, the list also includes Tracey Deer and Meredith Vuchnich (Beans), Clare Dunne (Herself), Shaka King and Will Berson (Judas and the Black Messiah), Lord of the Ring actor Viggo Mortensen (Falling), Andy Siara (Palm Spring), Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami), Emma Seligman (Shiva Baby), Remi Weekes (His House) and Tracey Scott Wilson (Respect). In previous years, screenwriters like Charlie Kaufman (The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Jennifer Lee (Frozen), and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek) have been added to the list.
A conversation with the honorees of Variety’s list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch is to be hosted virtually by the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 13th.
featured photo: Kata Wéber with director Kornél Mundruczó at the Venice Film Festival this year (Ettore Ferrari/MTI/EPA-ANSA)
