Lili Horvát’s “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” (Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre) has been selected as the Hungarian entry in the International Feature Film category for the 2021 Academy Awards.

The film had its world premiere as part of the Venice Days lineup, and played at multiple festivals including Toronto International Film Festival; Chicago Film Festival where it won the Golden Hugo in the New Directors Competition.

In Lili Horvát’s second feature, after 20 years in the United States, a brilliant neurosurgeon returns to Budapest to reunite with the love of her life: a man who says they’ve never met.

Márta Vizy (Natasa Stork) is a 39-year-old Hungarian neurosurgeon. After 20 years in the United States, she returns to Budapest for a romantic rendezvous at the Liberty Bridge with János (Viktor Bodó), a fellow doctor she met at a conference in New Jersey. Márta waits in vain, while the love of her life is nowhere to be seen. When she finally tracks him down, the bewildered man claims the two have never met.

It’s unclear whether Márta’s wits are clouded by love or if other neurological reactions are at play. Determined to solve the enigma, Márta takes a position at a hospital where, due to both her unfamiliarity with the local culture and her exceptional talent, she is an outsider. With graceful determination, she endures real and perceived slights while navigating the no man’s land separating love from madness.