The Story of Helka

Helka is an animated film about a princess who, at barely 13 years old, must take on her greatest enemy in order to bring freedom and happiness back to her homeland.

The Balaton Empire was once ruled by King Kelén and Queen Helén peacefully and justly. But one day Helka’s mother, the queen, drowned in a freak accident. The King blames himself for what happened, and completely falls apart. Now he only cares about one thing: to find the right husbands for his daughters. His help with that is Lady Borka. No one knows how she has come to the castle.

Borka’s only goal is to have absolute power over the kingdom. Her evil plan seems to succeed: the King is ready to marry her. All kinds of people arrive to the court for the royal wedding. Among the guests is a famous fortune-teller, who reveals the future to Borka: Helka, the youngest daughter of the King, will remove Borka from the throne, if she doesn’t die first.

Borka orders the young girl to be killed, but Helka survives the attempt. When fleeing, an ELF joins Helka. They argue over the ownership of an abandoned cottage but they stop when the eels arrive.

From then on, they hide in the forest together, where she saves the elf’s life, who almost falls into a canyon. In return for her help, the elf grants Helka a magical power. Now she can understand the language of animals. This is how she discovers that the Empire is in danger –the waters have become infested with eels, and the animals of the lake have been driven into the forest. Borka let the eels into the lake, to simply cause as much chaos as possible.

The overcrowded forest is lacking in space and water. The inhabitants must get water –without it, they are condemned to death. The only solution is to fetch water from the Kékkút spring, but none who has dared to go has ever returned. Helka and the elf embark on to get water but will they succeed in reaching the spring? Will they be able to save the Empire, when Borka’s only goal is to destroy all that stands in her way? The final battle ends with Borka’s defeat, but in the meantime our heroes have countless adventures.

It’s quite rare in the Hungarian film industry, that a movie explores the country’s cultural treasures and unique nature.

In our film, existing locations around the Balaton become a part of the magic, and the main characters explore Tihany, Hegyestű, the Szentbékkála Stone Field, Kékkút, and the Bakony region.

In our tale we can meet the legends of the lake Balaton, for example the so called „goatnails” of Balaton, the Echo of Tihany, and the beautiful love story of Helka and Kelén. Our adventurous fairy tale gives the opportunity to get to know them and may inspire the audience to discover the real locations of the story.

Our explicit goal is to recreate the folklore of the Balaton, and boost interest in the real-life locations where these legends take place.

Screenwriters: Anett Kormos, Éva Zabezsinszkij, Ervin Sallai, Sándor Csortos Szabó