BOLSHE VITA

1989 – 1990. The era of change. Budapest, excited about the recently gained freedom. In the In-bar “Bolshe Vita“, the uprooted ones, adventurers, political refugees, mobsters, and musicians from East and West meet. All are looking for something different. Money, freedom, love, documents for the journey to the west. The film tells the stories of some of these people. For instance the one about the two Russian musicians Wadim and Jura, who actually are on their way to a gig in Yugoslavia but due to the unclear political situation prefer to stop in Budapest. Here they meet Susan from the US and Maggie from the UK, who are looking for their true love. Jura and Maggie fall in love head over heels. Then there is Sergej, a former engineer, who struggles through life by selling knives in the black market and becomes a victim of the local mafia who wants to extort protection money from him. And finally Russian-teacher Erzsi, who rents out her small, modest flat to Russians who are passing through, but who always gets a raw deal.