Ruben Brandt – zbiratelj / Ruben Brandt, a gyüjtö / Ruben Brandt, Collector

In English with Slovenian subtitles

Ruben Brandt, a famous psychotherapist, is forced to steal 13 paintings from world-renowned museums and private collections to prevent his suffering from terrible nightmares. Accompanied by four of his patients, he and his gang of thieves strike regularly and with great success: The Louvre, Tate, Uffizi, Hermitage, MoMA.

’The Collector' quickly becomes the most wanted criminal. Gangsters and headhunters chase him around the world while the reward for his capture keeps rising, approaching a hundred million dollars. A carter of insurance companies entrusts Mike Kowalski, a private detective and leading art theft expert, to solve the case.

Written, directed and designed by: Milorad Krstić

Screenplay: Milorad Krstić, Radmila Roczkov

Cinematographers, Camera: Milorad Krstić, László Marcell

Art Director, Production Design: Milorad Krstić

Original Music: Tibor Cári

Sound Design: Danijel Daka Milošević

Editing: Milorad Krstić, László Marcell

Voices: Iván Kamarás (Ruben Brandt), Zalán Makranczi (Kowalski), Gabriella Hámori (Mimi)

Producers: Péter Miskolczi, János Kurdy-Fehér, Milorad Krstić, Hermina Roczkov, Radmila Roczkov

Production: Ruben Brandt Production

Distribution: Hungarian National Film Found

Ruben Brandt, Collector is a fantasy opus comprising thriller, film noir and action-adventure elements. Ruben Brandt is an art-house, expressive film d’auteur with exceptional visuality. Regardless of where the inspiration came from – drama, fantasy, action-adventure, film noir, thriller, a whole movie, a scene or just a character – Krstić tried to include as many references as he could in Ruben Brandt, Collector to pay tribute to his most loved works of cinema and art.

This film is built on two layers: the first one is an action-propelled crime story that a broader base of cinemagoers can relate to. The second layer presents a time surf over the waves of the 20th century’s art and movie world: from Caravaggio to Picasso, Eisenstein to Hitchcock, and from Elvis to Rocky, Ruben Brandt is a colourful blend of modern and classical pieces of art.

Concerning my drawings in this film, I do hope that people will find them peculiar and imaginative. Building up on Godard, who said that photography is truth and the cinema is truth twenty-four times per second, I would say that for me drawing is imagination and animated film is imagination twenty-four times per second.”

- Milorad Krstić

Awards (selection):

- Best Feature Film at Bucharest Anim'est film festival, 2018

- Nomination for Variety Piazza Grande Award at Locarno International Film Festival 2018