Filmmaker Statement

Tisztás is based on a ten-day research field trip in the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, Romania. Together with his interdisciplinary team, Zalán Szakács conducted interviews with locals, created in-situ interventions, and collected sounds, scents, and visual materials. As a central thread, the film questions the relations between Transylvanian cultural practices, the experience of the landscape, and ecological and mystical agents.