Hungarian Film - Cannes 2016

Hungarian Film Magazine THE 2016 CANNES ISSUE

Girls Animated

‘The Noise of Licking’ in Cinefondation ‘Superbia‘ in Semaine de la Critique

Laszlo Nemes Back in Cannes In the Feature Film Jury

Love Returns Károly Makk's movie is back in Cannes Classics

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Hungarian Film Magazine All You Need to Know about Hungarian Cinema “Hungarian Film Magazine� is a publication that highlights the latest news, interviews and essays about Hungarian cinema. Printed copies of it are available at the most important film festivals worldwide.

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A year ago in the Cannes 2015 issue you can find a detailed interview with LĂĄszlĂł Nemes, the director of ‘Son of Saul’, about his references and what he thinks about the significance of celluloid: “The digital image is regressive, deceitful technology. With film, the combination of darkness and projected images induces a physical reaction in the viewer that is absent from digital projection. In a sense, tangible projected film hypnotises the viewer. ‘Lily Lane’ was selected for the Berlinale Forum in 2016. Director Bence Fliegauf talked about his personal intentions of making his film in the Berlinale 2016 issue: “Stakes are raised when you have children around you and things become deeper and sharper suddenly. Tales spring up, miracles and nightmares happen, sensuality intensifies – the boring reality of the adults eliminates. You find there everything what is worth to live for. To spend time with a child is the best way to improve your character.â€?

Find the full interviews – and all other articles online: www.issuu.com/hungarianfilm You can find us on Facebook too: www.facebook.com/hungarianfilmmagazine

From the Beginning Five years is a considerable amount of time in a person’s life. It ought to be enough to fulfill a goal or to give up pursuing it. The Hungarian National Film Fund is turning five this summer and, looking back, we can proudly say that many of our goals were reached beyond expectations. Over these five years, Hungary has strengthened its position in the major film festivals, of which Cannes has been particularly generous to our talented and visionary cineastes.

Bringing home the main prize from the Certain Regard section (‘White God’ by Kornél Mundruczó) and winning the Grand Jury Prize, the Golden Globe and the Oscar (‘Son of Saul’ by László Nemes) we can safely say: what amazing five years it has been!

According to psychologists, by the age of five a child is able to distinguish the concept of past, present and future. We did not need five years to recognise that the values of the past and the present are needed to drive the Hungarian film industry towards a successful future. While the honoured members of a legendary filmmaker generation (Márta Mészáros and Ildikó Enyedi) are back behind the camera, we are always searching for fresh talents among ambitious youngsters.

Amid these fresh voices, young Hungarian animation artists represent a characteristic group that works and creates within the Animation Department of the renowned Moholy-Nagy University (MOME). This year two students made it to the Cinéfondation and to the Semaine de la Critique section (Nadja Andrasev and Luca Tóth, respectively). The highly esteemed past is represented this year by the magnificent and digitally remastered ‘Love’ by Károly Makk, who debuted 45 years ago in Cannes.

This year we put a special focus on the economic impact of the film and audiovisual industry. The Film Fund is conducting a study to research the direct and indirect effects of the audiovisual sector and the role of our solid film incentive system behind them. The first results reaffirm our commitment to sustain the funding of this creative industry, which has a boosting impact on the national economy.

Balázs Zachar Head of Legal, Regulatory Affairs and EU Relations, Hungarian National Film Fund

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Content 1

From the Beginning Opening words from the Head of Legal, Regulatory Affairs and EU Relations of the Hungarian National Film Fund

4 News

6

The Hungarian Film Community

10 Production Grants by HNFF from January to April 2016 12

Media Patronage Programme: After the First Five Years

Interview with Tamás Kollarik, coordinator of the Hungarian Media Council’s

Media Patronage Programme

16 2nd Hungarian Film Week - Awards 18

Life after Saul: New Directions in Hungarian Cinema

20 5 Years of Supporting Films

Economic statistics and facts on the Hungarian film industry

22

Past and Future at the Filmlab

Interview with László Aradi, director of Filmlab Division

24 2016: A Year So Far

Foreign film productions in Hungary

26 From Cannes to Cannes 28

The Road to Success of ‘Son of Saul’ Started in Cannes

30 54th / 88th

Basic facts about István Szabó and Laszlo Nemes

32

Animation is the Loneliest Genre You’ll Ever Do

Interview with Nadja Andrasev and Luca Tóth, animation directors

36

We Built a Community

Interview with József Fülöp, rector of Moholy-Nagy

University of Arts and Design Budapest

38 A Film that Does not Age

Károly Makk’s ‘Love’ in Cannes Classics

40 Coming Soon

What to expect: new faces, familiar names and brave topics

48 New Films from Hungary

The latest titles in every genre, with cast, crew and contacts

50 Feature Films 56

Feature Documentaries

57 TV Dramas 58 TV Documentaries 59 Educational Documentaries 61

Short Films

66

Short Animations

69 Short Animation Series 70 HNFF World Sales | Marché du Film Line-Up Highlights

News János Szász Helming a British movie

According to ScreenDaily, the UK-funded movie ‘Cross My Mind’ will tell the story of an intense and erotic love affair between a recovering blinded soldier (Lowden) and a married woman (Hawkins). The film is

Örökmozgó Reopens with Screen Icon Mari Töro ´´ csik Örökmozgó used to be the go-to place for Hungarian cinéphiles, as it was the capital’s only repertory theater.

The beloved cinema closed in 2015 and the new owner reopened it as Art+ Cinema, playing contemporary movies.

photo by László Major

However, the Örökmozgó brand is now being revived as the smaller hall of the newly functioning Premier Kultcafé. The café itself is special: thanks to a nonprofit organisation’s initiative it is one of the rare cafés

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photo by MTI

Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins and rising newcomer Jack Lowden are going to star in János Szász’s English-language debut. The European Film Awardwinning director’s ‘The Notebook’ won awards in Karlovy Vary, Haifa and Les Arcs and was also later shortlisted for the Academy Awards. expected to start shooting in the winter.

Szász, who is also an acclaimed stage director both in Hungary and abroad, recently wrapped that employ people with disabilities.

The founder of this nonprofit is legendary Hungarian actress Mari Törőcsik, so it’s no wonder a good cause meets a love for classic movies. Törőcsik attended the café’s opening on 1 April 2016, which included a screening of 'Körhinta', the big breakthrough movie for Törőcsik in 1956.

The highly regarded actress will also be seen on the big screen in Cannes, as one of her most famous roles will be revisited in Cannes Classics: Károly Makk’s 'Love' will screen on 15 May at 10 PM at Théâtre Buñuel.

the filming of his latest Hungarian movie ‘Bridge of Sighs’, a crime drama set in 1925 that was produced by Unio Film with support from the Hungarian National Film Fund.

Annecy Selects Hungarian Projects If our current edition about Hungarian short animations at Cannes isn’t enough proof, you can also visit Annecy this year to watch some of our finest.

Right after Cannes Cinéfondation, Nadja Andrasev’s ‘The Noise of Licking’ will compete at Annecy. The 9-minute animation was produced at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest (MOME) as a graduation film and was awarded Best Short Animation Prize by the Hungarian Film Critics earlier this year.

‘Balcony’, directed by Dávid Dell’Edera, will also compete among the graduation films.

His 6-minute short was produced at the Metropolitan University.

photo by by Mátyás Erdély

News

Mundruczó to Direct Bradley Cooper The helmer behind ‘White God’, Kornél Mundruczó is making his English-language debut with ‘Deeper’, a much-coveted project that recently landed at MGM with Bradley Cooper playing the lead role.

Friss Hús Closes with Records Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival was organised between 30 March and 3 April in Budapest. The fest is now considered the country’s main event for everything short film.

35 Hungarian short films made up the competition and a total of 16 international films also competed (chosen from a record number of more than 800 submissions).

The Best Hungarian Short Film award went to Áron Ferenczik’s ‘Mr. Miller’, while the Best

According to United States trades, the drama is about a disgraced astronaut who embarks on a mission to reach the bottom of a newly discovered oceanic trench.

He encounters an increasing level of danger and soon finds himself in a psychological (and physical) fight against mysterious forces. The script was written by Max Landis.

Titanic Ends with ‘The Demons’

Cameras for ‘Deeper’ will only roll in 2017, as Mundruczó starts filming HNFF-Funded 'Superfluous Man', his latest project in Hungary in May 2016, which will be produced by Proton Cinema.

A 23rd Titanic International Film Festival was organised in Budapest in April 2016. The Hungarian capital’s oldest film fest held the national premiere of Bence Fliegauf’s ‘Lily Lane’, with 41 other international

Two Hungarians Attend EAVE Producers Workshop

focusing on international coproduction.

Two young female producers represent Hungary this year at the EAVE Producers Workshop, which is one of the most important development, networking and training platforms in Europe. Throughout the year-long programme, the producers spend three intense residential weeks developing their feature film projects with acclaimed professional guidance

Animation award was handed to Réka Bucsi for her Berlinale Shorts-contender ‘LOVE’. The UK’s ‘Rate Me’ won the Best International Short Film award.

The festival's side programs included a pitching event, round tables with topics tending from the state of Hungarian TV-series, acting in films (a talk with casting directors and actors in the audience) and a lively discussion between critics and filmmakers.

A total of 3 000 tickets were sold to the screenings – almost a 50% raise compared to last year’s edition.

Mr. Miller

Dora Nedeczky, before forming her own production company, Mindwax, worked for Inforg Studio and KMH Film as assistant producer and junior producer. She's director Cristina Grosan's frequent collaborator, they are currently developing their first feature, 'A Coat of Gold' together. Dora is attending EAVE with 'For Real', the second feature film project by director Benjamin Cantu.

movies having their first Hungarian screenings. The competition included nine movies (all either first or second features) with the Canadian ‘The Demons’ emerging as the winner of the festival’s Breaking the Waves Prize and the French-Belgian-Spanish ‘Evolution’ grabbing the jury’s Special Prize.

Júlia Berkes works for Proton Cinema, where she produced Gábor Reisz’s low-budget sleeper hit ‘For Some Inexplicable Reason’ and line produced ‘A Serious Game’, which debuted at the Berlinale. She is currently developing their new movie with Gábor Reisz.

EAVE, Francesca Buffa

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The

Hungarian Film Community Find out more about Hungary's recent cultural and industrial film successes. You can read about newly supported films that can follow the path of 'Son of Saul' reaching domestic and international audience. Service productions are flourishing, which brings international stars and economic benefits to Hungary.

HUNGARIAN FILM SUPPORT SYSTEM FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS SUPPORTED BY THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL FILM FUND

Live Action Feature

Feature-Length Animation

Feature-Length Documentary

ANIMATIONS, SHORTS, DOCUMENTARIES, TV SUPPORTED BY THE MEDIA COUNCIL’S HUNGARIAN MEDIA PATRONAGE PROGRAM

Short and Experimental Film

TV Documentary

TV Film

Animated TV Series

Short Animation

Educational Documentaries

Online Content

HOW CAN INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS APPLY TO THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL FILM FUND? There is no separate call for minority co-productions, but all projects are encouraged to apply with a Hungarian co-producer onboard. Each film is judged by the quality of the screenplay and the potential of the project.

APPLICATIONS

1.

Script Development

2.

Project Development

3.

Production

APPLICATION PROCESS Continuous Applications (No fixed deadlines)

Decision in 60 days

with feedback from readers More info: www.filmfund.hu

and the decision of the Committee

PRODUCTION GRANTS BY HNFF

Ruben Brandt, Collector

from January to April 2016

The decision-making committee of the Hungarian National Film Fund (HNFF) meets every two weeks to decide on new applications.

Between 14 January and 14 April 2016, the committee met a total of 8 times. During these meetings 7 feature projects got the green light and were granted production support, and various other projects were also awarded different grants.

Title

Director

Support in EUR

Production company

The Whiskey Robber

Nimród Antal

3 528 000 Café Film

Pappa Pia

Gábor Csupo

3 250 000 Zene nélkül Kft.

Superfluous Man

Kornél Mundruczó

2 235 000 Proton Cinema

Ruben Brandt, Milorad Collector Kristic

1 924 000 Ruben Brandt Kft.

His Master's Voice

György Pálfi

1 924 000 KMH Film

Lajkó

Balázs Lengyel

1 007 000 KMH Film

Sinister Shadow

András Jeles

802 000 Focus-Fox

As the above chart shows, the first four months of 2016 were rich in production grants for big budget movies – and many are much awaited by the public. The return to Hungary of Nimród Antal who only directed American movies after his hit debut ‘Control’ (Kontroll) to tell the true story about the most famous Hungarian bank robber, the so-called Whiskey Robber, saw him receive the most significant grant. Another Hungarian who proved himself in the United States is Gábor Csupo who, after helming ‘The Bridge of Terabithia’ and ‘The Secret of Moonacre’, is making his first local movie, ‘Pappa Pia', which will be a musical comedy featuring some of the biggest hit songs of the past decades.

Kornél Mundruczó will also make an American movie soon (see News!), but not before ‘Superfluous Man', which relates the friendship between a boy with special abilities and a doctor.

The film is set amidst the current migration crisis. György Pálfi will make his new movie

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‘His Master's Voice' based on a Stanislaw Lem novel, and shooting will take place in Budapest, Ottawa, Las Vegas and New York between June and October 2016. Ferenc Pusztai’s KMH Film will see another movie this summer with screenwriter Balázs Lengyel’s directorial debut: ‘Lajkó' will be a dark comedy set in the 1980s.

András Jeles will direct his first movie since 13 years – the legendary filmmaker’s 6th feature film will start shooting in June 2016, while the Slovenian-born, Budapest-based artist Milorad Krstic makes his feature debut with the actionpacked animated crime story ‘Ruben Brandt, Collector’.

Project development grants were also awarded to multiple projects. The easiest decision was probably Laszlo Nemes’ ‘Sunset’, the follow-up to his Academy Award-winning ‘Son of Saul’.

The 1910s-set sophomore feature received script development grants last year and just recently received EUR 208 000 for pre-production.

Another highlight is definitely 'Tiny Tales', written by Norbert Köbli and to be directed by Attila Szász. The duo behind ‘Demimonde’ has received EUR 32 000 for project development.

Script development grants were given to the new projects by directors Gábor Reisz, Virág Zomborácz, Cristina Grosan, Péter Bergendy and György Szomjas, just to name a few. The nature documentary ‘The Kunság - The Secret Life of the Hungarian Puszta’ also received funding for script development.

As usual, numerous other grants were voted as well: the first four months of the year brought support for festivals like Mediawave, Busho and Budapest International Documentary Festival, as well as the annual Filmtett Workshop and the graduation movies of students at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) and at the University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE).

by Gábor Osváth

FROM ANY OF THESE CATEGORIES?

DO YOU WANT TO SHOOT A FILM? Does it meet the Hungarian cultural test criteria?

Feature Film

Animation Film

Documentary Film

Experimental Film

TV Film

Short Film

WHAT CAN HUNGARY PROVIDE FOR YOU?

tax rebate of your overall production spendings

* 1 000 000 0

1 000 000

250 000

800 000

200 000

1 000 000

250 000

600 000

400 000

750 000

150 000

* Max. 1.25x of the Hungarian spend

More info: www.filmfund.hu

Media Patronage Programme:

After the First Five Years The Media Council’s Hungarian Media Patronage programme has been functioning since 2011. On the one hand the programme is responsible for funding independent regional and local TV and radio stations, while on the other it does what we cover in this magazine: the support of independent filmmakers. It gives out funds in 11 categories, with genres that include short fiction, animation, documentary, educational/nature documentary and TV-movie.

We sat down with Tamás Kollarik, a member of the Media Council and the coordinator of its Media Patronage programme, to discuss the latest developments.

Two new calls for entries were introduced recently. Why were they necessary and what has the experience been so far?

We were already supporting the justifiably world-famous Hungarian animation (short films and single episodes), but the industry saw a legitimate and clear need for financing to make full seasons once we had supported one, two or even three episodes. The Media Council created a new application which was named after Attila Dargay and helps complete previously supported projects and entirely fund short animations that are of a bigger scale. This genre also has important traditions in Hungary – just think of the Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Marcell Jankovics or Géza M. Tóth, and of course Academy Award-winner Ferenc Rofusz. (Editor’s note: We received news that after our interview OTHER TV-movie script development | 0,23 M EUR | 57 Online content | 0,29 M EUR | 86 Ad hoc support for documentaries | 0,11 M EUR | 26

Superbia

the new short animation by Ferenc Rofusz received a grant of EUR 64 000.) In total, we have supported more than 100 new short animations and 14 animated TV-series.

We have been supporting documentaries and educational documentaries since the very beginning - more than 400 projects have received financing in the past 5 years. We then realised, based on international trends, that there is a demand for documentary movies with rich archival material that depicts important historical themes or cultural topics. Just like with our previous applications, we named this call after a late exemplary filmmaker, István Nemeskürty. We launched the call last year and the great results and feedback received led us to opt for two calls each year.

What else is new for the Patronage programme in 2016?

An application process is never perfect. It’s something we have to continuously work to improve.

Our goal for this year is to keep all of our previously existing budgets and categories and improve Supported Projects 2011-2016 91 | Short animation | 2,53 M EUR 20 | Animation series / special | 1,48 M EUR

TV-movie production | 7,58 M EUR | 28

Radio plays | 0,31 M EUR | 42

200 | Documentaries | 4,91 M EUR

Short films | 1,03 M EUR | 55 Historical documentaries | 0,6 M EUR | 9

147 | Educational documentaries | 3,76 M EUR

ALL | 22,83 M EUR | 761 projects 12

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We just recently introduced our completely electronic application system, which makes access a lot easier and creates equal opportunities: now it is the same process for everyone, no matter where they live.

There were some concerns about the afterlife of these movies – any update on that?

We are trying to help each film’s afterlife. We have a good working relationship with the international festivals division of the Hungarian National Film Fund and of the MTVA (Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund, the Hungarian public media), as they are representing and selling some of the films. We ourselves are tracking every single project that comes out of the Patronage programme. We also created a website to present each film. We have an annual bilingual catalogue that we send to international film festivals as well as to Hungarian cultural institutes abroad to help spread these.

What do you consider to be the biggest success of the past 5 years?

Hungary particularly supports the audiovisual industry, and there are an increasing amount of quality feature films thanks to the Hungarian National Film Fund - we hope there will be more success stories like ‘Son of Saul’. Because of the tax rebate system, the talented human resources and the helpful regulatory environment, there is a very high number of foreign productions coming to Hungary. And of course we are also very proud of the movies that come out of our programme. These films have won more than 150 international awards. We had a short animation in the Berlinale Shorts and we have another at the Cannes Semaine de la Critique this year.

Each week there is something new to celebrate.

Just these past few days the made-for-TV movie ‘Demimonde’ won five awards in Tiburon and two at Nashville, where it competed against theatrical features.

Besides the international success, though, it is also very important to screen these movies for the domestic television audience. We have supported 28 made-for-TV movies so far. Luckily we can say that Hungarians like Hungarian movies because they vote with their remote controls, and our films receive good ratings.

There are often hundreds of thousands of people watching them at home. Some projects even get theatrical distribution, like the highly successful nature movies ‘Wild Szigetköz’ and ‘Wild Kunság’. Many of the films get

2015 by the Numbers at the Media Council’s Hungarian Media Patronage programme Nr. of films

Amount granted

Educational Documentaries

32

804 300 EUR

Documentaries

47

1 057 300 EUR

Animated Shorts

19

564 800 EUR

Animated Series or Special

14

792 700 EUR

Short Fiction

15

239 100 EUR

TV-Movie Development

12

40 300 EUR

TV-Movie Production

6

Historical Documentaries

10

1 894 000 EUR 599 650 EUR

sold to foreign TV-channels, which in the process puts Hungary in the cultural spotlight. Another interesting way to reach audiences is what ‘Virtual Castle Tours’ did when they organised screenings in museums and registered more than 140 000 admissions. In addition, an increasing number of projects get a second life online.

We were and still are formulating our application system according to discussions within the film industry, and it is an entirely transparent system. Filmmakers can see all of our conditions and budgets. At the end of each year we decide on the following year’s application calendar so that our applicants can plan ahead of time.

We are honoured that our support has helped make more than 700 film projects, with an amount nearing EUR 22.8 million.

by Gábor Osváth

photo by Gábor Valuska

them based on the industry’s feedback. Thanks to discussions such as the industry roundtable at the Friss Hús International Short Film Festival, we were able to raise the amount that can be awarded for short and experimental films by more than 100%.

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THE HUNGARIAN FILM FUND CELEBRATES 5 YEARS 66 film productions supported including 20 co-productions, 15 first features, 8 documentaries and 2 animations 35 films released in cinemas and at festivals worldwide more than 150 international awards

Son of Saul | dir. Laszlo Nemes Cannes Grand Prix 2015, Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2016, Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film 2016

Liza, the Fox-Fairy | dir. Károly Ujj Mészáros Fantasporto Grand Prix 2015, Amsterdam FFF Silver Mélies Award, Seattle IFF Grand Prix 2015

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For Some Inexplicable Reason | dir. Gábor Reisz Torino IFF Audience Award 2015, Sofia IFF Best Director Award 2015

White God | dir. Kornél Mundruczó Cannes UCR Prix 2014, Seville FF Eurimages Award 2014

The Notebook | dir. János Szász Karlovy Vary Crystal Globe 2013, shortlisted for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film 2013

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photos by Mรกrton Farkas / Hungarian Film Academy

2nd Hungarian Film Week

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Hungarian Film Awards 2016 Best Feature Film: LIZA, THE FOX-FAIRY / dir. Károly Ujj Mészáros Best TV Drama: DEMIMONDE / dir. Attila Szász Best Feature Documentary: DRIFTER / dir. Gábor Hörcher Best Educational Documentary: THE KUNSÁG - THE SECRET LIFE OF THE HUNGARIAN PUSZTA / dir. Szabolcs Mosonyi Best Short Film: THE SOUND OF CONCRETE / dir. István Kovács Best Animation Movie: COYOTE AND THE ROCK / dir. Áron Gauder Best Director: KÁROLY UJJ MÉSZÁROS / Liza, the Fox-Fairy Best Screenplay: NORBERT KÖBLI / Demimonde Best Actress in a Leading Role: MÓNI BALSAI / Liza, the Fox-Fairy Best Actor in a Leading Role: ATTILA VIDNYÁNSZKY JR. / Home Guards Best Supporting Actress: ESZTER CSÁKÁNYI / Afterlife Best Supporting Actor: JÁNOS KULKA / Demimonde Best Film Editing: JUDIT CZAKÓ / Liza, the Fox-Fairy Best Sound Editing: GÁBOR BALÁZS / Swing Best Cinematography: ANDRÁS NAGY / Demimonde Best Production Design/Costume Design: BALÁZS HUJBER, IBOLYA BÁRDOSI / Liza, the Fox-Fairy Best Original Score: AMBRUS TÖVISHÁZI, DÁNIEL CSENGERY / Liza, the Fox-Fairy Best Makeup and Hairstyling: CSILLA HORVÁTH, ERZSÉBET RÁCZ, NÓRA KAPÁS / Liza, the Fox-Fairy

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Life after Saul:

New Directions in Hungarian Cinema Hungary received the Academy Award this year, but where is the next big thing?

We found some potential candidates.

We recently witnessed the great critical acclaim and audience success of Laszlo Nemes’s ‘Son of Saul’ (Saul fia), which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Over the last couple of years there have been quite a few niche films, made mostly by young Hungarian directors, that have also managed to reach their audience e.g.: ‘Liza, the Fox-Fairy’ (Liza, a rókatündér) and ‘For Some Inexplicable Reason’ (Van valami furcsa és megmagyarázhatatlan), but Hungarian films that combine artistic vision with a truly wide audience appeal have mostly eluded us so far.

However, this could change in the near future, as several big-shot Hungarian directors gear up for their new projects. If we look at the films currently in production or pre-production, we see a number of promising projects that seem to represent a somewhat different approach to genre filmmaking than most of the output offered in recent years. A wider array of genres is being tackled and more emphasis is being placed on reaching a wide audience, while still maintaining the artistic integrity of the projects.

Heavy hitters try sci-fi A good example of this new approach is Kornél Mundruczó’s, who in 2014 won the Un Certain Regard Prize and whose two previous feature films were in competition in Cannes. Mundruczó starts shooting his 7th full-length film in May. Entitled ‘Superfluous Man’ (Felesleges ember), the HungarianGerman co-production aims to continue towards more mainstream appeal, a change of direction that began with ‘White God’ (Fehér 18

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

György Pálfi

isten), a story about a pubescent girl and her dog. ‘Superfluous Man’ is about a boy with superpowers who befriends a doctor, and while this might sound like the log line for a Marvel Studio production, Mundruczó deals with topics of faith and the lack thereof, and his film is markedly set during the current migration crisis.

Another example of going in another direction are the pronounced sci-fi elements in György Pálfi's new project, ‘His Master's Voice’ (A hang), which rather than being an adaptation is inspired by Stanislaw Lem’s novel. Funded by the Hungarian National Film Fund, the film follows a Hungarian man in the United States searching for his long-lost father who was part of a secret team of scientists looking for proof of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Pálfi won the Best Director Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2014 with his previous feature film, ‘Free Fall’ (Szabadesés), and has made several low-budget films over the past few years. His biggest endeavour yet, though, will be ‘His Master's Voice’. We can rest assured that Pálfi will bring his unique vision - previously evidenced by his films ‘Hukkle’ and ‘Taxidermia’ - to the project which, combined with a bigger budget and a more relatable story, will bring us a film that speaks to audiences both in Hungary and abroad.

Costumes, love and blood As difficult as sci-fi movies may be from a production point of view, period films may in fact be even more challenging. Nevertheless, two recent high-profile Hungarian productions were not afraid to take on the task. ‘Budapest Noir’, based on Vilmos Kondor’s successful

Budapest Noir

novel of the same name, has just wrapped production. A crime story set in the seedy underbelly of Budapest in the 1930s, it focuses on a battered journalist who takes it upon himself to uncover the murder of a Jewish prostitute. Helmed by Éva Gárdos – who directed the autobiographical ‘An American Rhapsody’ starring a young Scarlett Johansson – and shot by Elemér Ragályi, it promises an enjoyable and exciting, albeit somewhat dark, ride into the past. The popularity of Kondor’s book in Hungary makes it a very likely national success, but the film, boasting high production values, might very well find its way to noir fans abroad as well.

The second period piece, ‘The Invincible’ (Kincsem), received the highest ever support from the Hungarian National Film Fund: roughly EUR 6.7 million. Set in 19th-century Hungary, the film gets its title from the famous unbeaten racehorse and focuses on the rivalry between the horse’s owner, a Hungarian nobleman, and an Austrian aristocrat, with a love story tucked in there too. Directed

by Gábor Herendi, who made popular hits ‘A Kind of America’ (Valami Amerika) and ‘Hungarian Vagabond’ (Magyar vándor), and Nimród featuring well-known Antal actors Ervin Nagy and Andrea Petrik in the main roles, as well as its spectacular horserace scenes, the film will

The Invincible

undoubtedly deliver the kind of entertainment that can be appreciated by a wide range of audiences.

A 13-year wait Last but definitely not least, Nimród Antal, who returns to Hungarian filmmaking 13 years after his debut feature ‘Control’ (Kontroll). The darkly humorous film about ticket controllers working in the Budapest metro was very popular in Hungary and even gathered a cult following in the United States. Following this success, the young filmmaker went on to direct Hollywood movies such as ‘Vacancy’, a thriller with Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, and ‘Predators’, under the guidance of Robert Rodriguez, who produced the 2010 installment in the franchise.

Antal returns to the fold this summer with ‘The Whiskey Robber’. Said to be a mixture of genres, the film is about the notorious Hungarian criminal, Attila Ambrus, who before getting caught robbed several dozen banks in Budapest in the 1990s. And after serving a 10-year prison sentence he became a pottery maker. Partially due to the fact that he never harmed anyone during his robberies, he became somewhat of a Hungarian folk hero and continues to fascinate people. Antal aims to portray not only the robberies but also the whole arc of Ambrus’s life, from his humble origins in Romania until the present day. Ever since ‘Control’, Hungarian audiences have been waiting for another Antal movie in the same vein, mixing human drama and thriller elements, as well as more lighthearted comic moments.

by Bori Bujdosó (VS.hu) HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

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5 Years of Supporting Films

Production spending on film productions as an avarage of national GDP 2010-2013 0.16%

0.14% 0.12% 0.10% 0.08% 0.06% 0.04%

Beyond developing Hungarian films, one of the Hungarian National Film Fund’s missions has always been to provide opportunities to the most possible projects in an effort to make the most of Hungary’s breathtaking locations and highly professional crews. Hungary has a 25% tax rebate offered for film projects shot in the country. This stems from a conviction that the more films are made, the better it is for the economy – and this year’s studies by OrienTax and Candole Partners research firms back this up.

But first, the history

The HNFF is a public institution that was founded by Andrew G. Vajna, commissioner for the development of the Hungarian film industry.

It is governed by Hungarian law and its activities are regulated by the Motion Picture Act (II) of 2004.

This act not only gave rise to a significant change for the national film industry, but it also set in motion that tax incentives should attract more shootings to the country, an innovation now offered throughout a number of countries.

The incentive is guaranteed by the Hungarian state, but the collection account is operated by the HNFF, assuring swift post-financing refund.

Number of coproductions and foreign films supported by the tax rebate 70 60

56

50 40 30

36

59 43

20 10 0 2012

2013

2014

2015

0.02% 0.00% HU

GB

BE

FR

CZ

IT

HR

IE

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FI

Treatment group (with fiscal incentives) Control group (no fiscal incentives)

Source: SPI

The tax rebate was raised from 20 to 25% in 2014, but the effects of the rebate were clear well before that: the film industry expenditure equalled 0.15 %* of Hungary’s GDP between 2010 and 2013, higher than anywhere else in Europe.

The number of productions in Hungary using the tax rebate grew steadily.

Hungary also offers tax rebates for nonHungarian spending; 125% of the budget is the basis for the tax rebate today. There is no set budget: features, short films, TV films and documentaries are all welcome as long as they fulfill two of ten of the European Union’s cultural criteria.

How is less tax good for the economy?

Incentivising productions by tax rebates might seem counterintuitive in the context of supporting national economies. However, outside their direct economic impact, employing locals and purchasing goods, films also have an indirect supplier impact, such as expenditures on catering companies and hotels. Payments to employees also have an induced consumption impact, as employees spend their income at retailers, restaurants, etc.

To illustrate this, in 2015 productions requested over EUR 42.5 million in tax rebates. According to a 2016 study by Orientax and Candole Partners, the tax rebates enabled 4 400 people to be directly employed by production companies and crews. If we consider the impact of induced consumption, this means the 2014 tax rebates helped the livelihood of 6700 people. Not to mention the impact of industry infrastructure * European Audiovisual Observatory, 2015

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investment: major productions that chose Hungary for its supportive regulatory climate led to a significant investment in new studio facilities, resulting in even more employment.

made all the more possible thanks to the liberal permitting system.

And now for the name-dropping

‘The Martian’, ‘World War Z’, ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’, ‘Monte Carlo’, ‘Hercules’, ‘Spy’ and ‘Hellboy II’. These are some of the foreign blockbusters shot at least partially in Hungary over the last couple of years. The television series ‘Marco Polo’ and ‘Tyrant’ both shot their sophomore seasons here last year and Tom Hanks took on the role of Robert Langdon again in ‘Inferno’, which was shot in Budapest.

This year Budapest hosts Penelope Cruz in ‘Queen of Spain’, Keira Knightley in ‘Colette’ and Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in ‘Blade Runner 2’.

The same study also found that supporting production service jobs impacts national GDP well beyond the amount of direct public support given. In fact, the growth multiplier is a whopping 2,8x. Taking an export effect into account, these service jobs contribute more to job creation than any other sector in the national economy. The more foreign productions come, the more spending there is: in 2015, 50 foreign films were shot at least partially in Hungary and their Hungarian spending amounted to EUR 154.74 million.

In comparison, spending on 180 Hungarian productions in 2015 totalled EUR 46 million.

Room to grow

Of course, it’s not just about the money

Hungarian filmmaking offers a number of additional, unique advantages that productions consider when scouting locations. Beyond the incredible scenery, famously adaptable locales, state-of-the-art filmmaking infrastructure and broad language skills, the country’s significantly low price and wage levels can notably suppress production costs.

It’s no wonder that an increasing number of productions make use of the local scenery as well as of Budapest’s exceptional ability to double as a number of other cities (Moscow, Prague, Berlin, Paris and even Buenos Aires and Bangkok). Assisted by this highly supportive economic, political and regulatory climate, Budapest is now on top of the list for productions that seek affordable and uniquely well-equipped shooting locations. And this is

The greatest challenge in Hungarian filmmaking at the moment is a relative shortage in production service talent. As more and more foreign productions move to Hungary and there is a continued renaissance of Hungarian domestic filmmaking, there is also a growing concern that the expansion of labor capacities in production services can’t match the industry’s growth spurt. (A problem we are lucky to have!)

To rectify this shortcoming, the HNFF is preparing the launch of a training system to supply productions with support personnel.

Be they technicians, hairdressers, electricians or makeup artists, movies couldn’t work without them. It is crucial for the Hungarian film industry to recognise its educational responsibilities and step up to the challenge. And we have every intention to do so.

by Anna Németh

Direct spending in Hungary by film productions (in EUR) 2012 No. of films

Spending (EUR)

2013 No. of films

Spending (EUR)

2014 No. of films

2015

Spending (EUR)

No. of films

Spending (EUR)

Foreign productions

27

60 863 538

46

121 842 769

38

138 047 337

50

Hungarian coproductions

9

26 452 797

10

15 404 586

5

14 386 282

9

31 789 912

Hungarian productions (all)

208

41 597 185

214

37 598 557

237

29 598 566

180

45 978 535

All productions

244

128 913 521

270

174 845 912

280

182 032 185

239

232 465 450

154 697 003

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The 65 year old Hungarian Filmlab provide post production services parallel with restoration for archive footages. The company combine its professional experience and the development of the digital technology. The Filmlab is represented by two films in Cannes in 2016. We discussed the company’s past and future with Mr. László Aradi, Director of Filmlab Division.

When did the story of the Filmlab start?

The Hungarian Filmlab was established on the 1st of January, 1951. It’s a 65 year old company.

We work with this in our mind, tradition is a part of our lives. The building on the Budakeszi lane was designed for the special needs of the filmlab and it was opened in 1964. The lab worked with several Oscar nominees and Oscar winners in the past and the present like István Szabó’s ‘Mephisto’ from 1982 or the most recent, Laszlo Nemes’s ‘Son of Saul’. All of the latter’s traditional analogue and digital postproduction works were done in the Filmlab.

What kind of challenges has the Filmlab faced over the years?

The nineties were a turning point for the film industry. This was the beginning of the digitalisation. A few labs were able to coop with the new situation, and they developed their own digital services. Other labs found a partner for the digital tasks, while another ones were shut down.

The Hungarian Filmlab followed a good strategy and it made its own digital development.

In 2010 new challenges arrived. The digital projection became more and more popular among the cinemas while less and less filmmakers work with the 35mm technology. This resulted a lot of labs to disappear worldwide.

And besides all these factors, it’s not enough to see the progress of the market or to have the latest technology. You need experienced professionals too.

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photo by Gábor Valuska

Past and Future at the Filmlab So you decided to continue the traditional laboratory services alongside the digital procedures?

Some of the well-known European labs had to suspend their operation; some of them gave up the chemical activities. Our strategy is to carry on with the celluloid-based services alongside the highest level digital postproduction technology.

The Hungarian Filmlab, owing to the common strategy with the Hungarian National Film Fund, managed to survive this period. Now, the Filmlab is part of the National Film Fund as a division.

Maintaining the traditional chemical technology and combining it with the full-scale digital services in a well-synchronized workflow is our strength and market advantage in the region.

What kind of services does the lab provide?

We provide on set and post production services and restoration for archive films. We offer complete post production service for motion pictures. We can serve the filmmakers from the very first steps till the last ones, from the beginning of the shooting till the making of the screening copies and the materials for television broadcasting, including VFX works.

Do you work with foreign or domestic companies?

Mainly domestic companies ask for the on set and the postproduction services. However, the majority of the restoration works are effected for foreign clients. The traditional 35mm laboratory services mean a considerable advantage for the foreign productions.

What has been your most recent professionally challenging job?

Recently, the full post production of ‘Son of Saul’.

What makes the post production of this film so unique, is that a complete traditional analogue workflow was done: the camera negatives were

processed, dailies by telecine, then the original 35mm negative was cut manually and the prints to be screened at festivals were made from this cut negative by traditional film printing. All this was spiced by the application of the digital workflow in accordance with the worldwide distribution needs. A high resolution, 4K scan was made from the uncut negatives. That made the basis for the 4K digital intermediate, what resulted in a 4K recorded Internegative, for the mass printing of the cinema copies. The digital intermediate was used for manufacturing the broadcast and DCP materials. It was a serious expectation at the distribution to offer 35mm projections at the most possible cinemas. The entire workflow was made in the Hungarian Filmlab.

Can the viewer see the difference between the digital and the 35mm negative?

The 35mm negative gives a kind of materiality for the film. As, the cinematographer of ‘Son of Saul’, Mátyás Erdély said: if a painter creates an image on a computer without a paint, a brush or the canvas and, we print it, perhaps it will be something similar, but never the same as a painting.

The 35mm technology means a very serious creative engagement for the filmmakers. And for the viewers the pictures of a 35mm screening will provide such a visual world, a grain structure, a materiality, what can be imitated, but can never be created by digital technology. Nevertheless we should not disclaim the option of the digital works, where the 35mm does not mean a barrier.

Besides post-production you work with archival material as well. You restore and digitalise archive footage.

The digital technology, the experienced professionals and the traditional laboratory services – all mentioned above – are a good foundation for the restoration process. Film restoration is internationally highlighted and respected.

The Hungarian Filmlab supports the work of the FIAF, the International Federation of Film Archives. It cooperates in a large number of films with the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA) through several decades.

The Filmlab works with several foreign film archives, for example Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Poland and the Czech Republic are our most prominent customers.

We were successful applicants in numerous international public procurements.

What is the most challenging part of the restoration process?

Whether we should digitally correct all and each one of the mistakes and flaws of the old

technology, even if it is typically representing that era? This need to be consulted and discussed with the experts of the archives.

We can suggest solutions and share our experiences, but the client has to make the decisions.

Besides the restoration of the frames, removal of defects, scratches, dirts, rotations, warps, flickers, etc., one of the most important issues is the authentic colour grading. In a lucky case, when the film is not so old, we can reach the cinematographer, or the director of the film, or at least someone who participated in the production, and we discuss the questions with them to get the best result we can. The same is true for the sound restoration.

What developments do you plan for the digital technologies?

A continuous extension of storage capacity what currently is over 1 petabyte. For 4K full service post production works this is a must.

Is the Hungarian Filmlab competitive on the international market?

As we keep our traditions and we combine them with the latest digital technology, our Lab receives an international attention. This is unique, as lots of labs and postproduction facilities were recently closed in the neighbouring countries.

Do you think the Filmlab is competitive pricewise as well?

The filmmakers are served with the highest quality available, meeting the expectations of any international film festival. Pricewise, we feel that, we are more favourable than our West-European competitors. Our goal is to enter into co-production-based participation in the international filmmaking, as digital shooting makes it difficult to tempt the filmmakers to this region, for digital technology is available almost everywhere.

This year two of the Hungarian Filmlab’s works will attend Cannes in the Classics section.

We started to work for the National Film Archive, Prague back in 2015 and we restored ‘Ikarie XB-1’ (Czechoslovakia, 1963, dir. Jindřich Polák), which was selected to the Classics Program.

Currently five Hungarian feature films are in restoration for the Hungarian archive, MaNDA. The procurement was won together with FocusFox studio. All five films are about the 1956 revolution, and one of them, Károly Makk’s ‘Love’ (Szerelem) will be in the Classics program of Cannes too. This way, two films of this program are restored in our lab, both in 4K resolution.

More info: www.filmlab.hu/en

by Zsuzsa Borbély HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

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Penélope Cruz on the set of 'Queen of Spain' (photo by Fernando Trueba)

2016: The Year So Far Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Rowan Atkinson and Robert Pattinson were just a few of the big names who visited Hungary last year in what ended up being a recordbreaking year for the film industry. 2016 does not disappoint either here we try to list some of the many foreign projects that are being made in Hungary.

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The previous year brought the filming of many TV-series to the Hungarian capital and to soundstages, and this trend continues with new seasons of FX’s ‘Tyrant’ and BBC2’s ‘The Last Kingdom’. Filming of ‘Tyrant’ already started in the Spring, with ‘The Good Wife’ and ‘Sex and the City’ alumni Chris Noth joining the cast.

NBC’s brand new show ‘Emerald City’, a modern take on ‘The Wizard of Oz’, is also currently underway, starring Vincent D’Onofrio. All of the episodes are directed by the visionary Tarsem Singh. ‘Emerald City’ has been in Hungary for a few months, after the smaller portion of filming in Spain has ended.

All three above mentioned shows are being service produced by Mid-Atlantic, the company that previously shepherded ‘The Martian’, ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ and the Melissa McCarthy-starrer ‘Spy’.

Mid-Atlantic is already deep into pre-production for the long-awaited, still untitled sequel to ‘Blade Runner’, which will star Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. Ridley Scott is on board as the film’s producer. The director Denis Villeneuve and the DOP Roger Deakins are already in Budapest prepping, with the shoot expected to start in July and last until the end of the year. Nothing official has been said yet about the scale of it

all, but everything points to it being the biggest production ever to come to Hungary.

Earlier this year Pioneer Pictures produced its very first Hungarian feature film (‘Budapest Noir’), but it still has time for its once again very busy dance card of service productions. The Cold War thriller ‘The Coldest City’ recently wrapped with Charlize Theron, James McAvoy and John Goodman, and the production company is now preparing for the third season of returning Canadian-Hungarian WW2-series ‘X Company’, to shoot this summer with 10 new episodes.

Proton Cinema started filming co-owner Kornél Mundruczó’s latest movie right before Cannes, and they are also in various stages of production with a handful of other projects. Both the second season of the German historical comedy series ‘Sketch History’ and the British noir thriller ‘Terminal’ will be filming from May until June.

The latter stars Margot Robbie from ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. The Norwegian kids movie and series franchise ‘Karsten + Petra’ is also currently being filmed in Budapest, this time with Hungarian DOP Márton Miklauzic on board behind the camera. Another family-themed TV-project, the Dutch ‘Zenith’, will start rolling in June. It is produced by Lemming Film and is about two teens who discover that their parents secretly replaced themselves with robots.

André Szõts Productions (ASP) is currently filming ‘Promise at Dawn’ in Budapest. It stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Pierre Niney. The

movie is an adaptation of Romain Gary’s classic novel which tells the story of his own upbringing, his relationship with his Russian mother and his life until WW2.

Laokoon FilmGroup, the company behind ‘Son of Saul’, recently wrapped ‘Queen of Spain’ directed

by Fernando Trueba and starring Penelope Cruz, Mandy Patinkin and Santiago Segurra. Trueba and Cruz worked together in the Academy Award-winner ‘Belle époque’ and ‘The Girl of Your Dreams’, the latter being a prequel to ‘Queen of Spain’. The story picks up 18 years later and tells the story of Cruz’s character’s return to her native Spain for a Hollywood film shoot. The director told Screen Daily that he has found in Budapest “the perfect environment” to recreate the feel of the old Spanish studios where most of the Hollywood productions were shot in the ’50s. Laokoon has other projects lined up for 2016, but at the time of this writing none had been made public yet.

Another Spanish project visited Hungary: FilmTeam is currently filming ‘The Chess Player’ directed by Luis Oliveros, who previously worked with the Hungarian company on the series ‘Alatriste’ and the TV-movie ‘The Angel of Budapest’. FilmTeam most recently did service production on the German TV-series ‘Neanderthal’, a Stone Age project for Germany’s RTL earlier this year. They are also preparing for a German mini-series, ‘Honig Frauen’, to shoot between July and October this year.

by Gábor Osváth

The Last Kingdom

‘X Company’

Tyrant

Sketch History

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From Cannes to

Cannes A year ago 'Son of Saul' started its stunning journey in Cannes, where director Laszlo Nemes is coming back this year as a jury member. Hungary has two short animations on the Croisette: 'The Noise of Licking' in the CinĂŠfondation and 'Superbia' in the Critics' Week section we talked with the directors and with the rector of their university MOME. The Cannes Classics celebrates KĂĄroly Makk and his masterpiece 'Love'.

The Road to Success of ‘Son of Saul’ Started in Cannes Director Laszlo Nemes returns to the 69th Cannes Festival as a member of the jury in the main competition, just a year after he himself debuted in the very same section.

After the recent outstanding success of ‘Son of Saul’, which resulted in an Oscar, a Golden Globe and another 50 prestigious awards and a further 40 nominations, it is safe to say that the Hungarian film made the greatest impact among last year’s selection.

As the audience of the afternoon premiere of ‘Son of Saul’ was witnessing the ordeal experienced by the Auschwitz Sonderkommando Saul Ausländer, there was a bidding war going on behind the scenes. The representatives of Sony Pictures Classics claimed that they would do everything in their power to get the film to the Oscars. The idea seemed far-fetched for the producers and the first-time director who were still just humbled to have been invited to Cannes. However, the concept became more and more real with the critical acclaim and as the developments over the following weeks unfolded.

‘Son of Saul’ was sold to more than 50 countries before the festival had even ended and won the Grand Prix as well as the François Chalais and FIPRESCI prizes, while its sound designer Tamás Zányi received the Vulcan Award. Less then three weeks later, along with the film’s Hungarian premiere in June, the Hungarian National Film Fund announced that it would nominate Laszlo Nemes’s directorial debut as Hungary’s entry to the 88th Academy Awards.

The conquest of North America started in September, when critics voted ‘Son of Saul’ the best film of the intimate Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. A week later it received a Special Presentation at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival alongside several other future Academy Award nominees being premiered.

It was also screened in the Special Events section of the New York Film Festival. By this time, Laszlo Nemes had signed with United Talent Agency in Hollywood and was already mentioned among the potential favourites of the Academy Awards in Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

Autumn saw a great deal of interest shown towards ‘Son of Saul’ in Europe. After the film

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won a special jury prize at the 21st Sarajevo Film Festival it was introduced to the audience of the San Sebastián, London and Hamburg film festivals in September and October 2015. In November it won the Golden Pram for Best Film in Zagreb and Award for Best Director in Stockholm and was chosen as the Best Debut Feature at the UK Jewish Film Festival in London. Mátyás Erdély’s work was awarded at prestigious festivals dedicated to cinematography; he received the Golden Camera 300 at the Manaki Brothers Film Festival in Macedonia and the Bronze Frog at the Camerimage in Poland. In the meantime, the international distribution of ‘Son of Saul’ had also started in Belgium and the Netherlands after the film’s introduction at the Film Fest Gent and the Leiden International Film Festival, respectively. Laszlo Nemes’s directorial debut was particularly successful in France, where in just two weeks it became the most viewed Hungarian film ever to be screened in front of 123 000 moviegoers. ‘Son of Saul’ also sparked up a debate about whether the Holocaust can be represented on film between Claude Lanzmann, the director of the epic documentary ‘Shoah’, and Georges Didi-Huberman, the renowned philosopher and art historian, who praised Laszlo Nemes’s intellectual approach to the Holocaust in an open letter, which was later published under the title 'Sortir du noir'.

At the end of the year and at the beginning of the film award season overseas, ‘Son of Saul’ was nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards as well as for the Golden Globe for Best International Film and Best Foreign Language Film, respectively. It also made it onto the short list of nine films at the Academy Awards in the same category. On December 18, while the whole world was mesmerised by the premiere of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, ‘Son of Saul’ had a limited release at two cinemas in New York and at two in Los Angeles. In their annual summaries, the key cinematic journals all mentioned the Cannes Grand Prix winner; Variety listed Laszlo Nemes among the ten directors to watch in 2015; the Hungarian film made it into the top ten on Sight & Sound’s 20 best films list; while among the daily newspapers The Guardian ranked it No. 1 on its list of best films released in the United

States. The press also started to give out its awards, and film critics in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington chose ‘Son of Saul’ as the Best Foreign Language Film, while in New York it was picked as Best First Film.

On its road to success, the Hungarian film’s Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film was also an important landmark, as it was the first time a Hungarian film had ever been acknowledged by the Hollywood Foreign Press. A few days after the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented their nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, which included ‘Son of Saul’, the first Hungarian film since István Szabó’s ‘Hanussen’ 27 years prior. By this time ‘Son of Saul’ had screened in 180 cinemas in the United States.

The story of ‘Son of Saul’ is not over yet though.

In its home country, film critics praised not only the film itself, but also Laszlo Nemes, the leading actor Géza Röhrig and the works of Mátyás Erdély and Tamás Zányi. The Hungarian Film Awards also awarded the film a Special Prize. Laszlo Nemes’s work is the first Hungarian film to ever be nominated for a César Award in France, and it won the award for best foreign film inside the European Union at the Italian David di Donatello Award.

During the first two months of this year, ‘Son of Saul’ premiered in more than 20 countries around Europe, Asia and South America before arriving in Germany in March and the United Kingdom and Ireland in April. Meanwhile, Laszlo Nemes has been invited to the Cannes Festival again, but this time as a member of the jury in the main competition.

by András Oláh

Géza Röhrig, photo by Ildi Hermann

The campaign that lasted until the Oscars wasn’t uneventful either, as Laszlo Nemes was nominated for the First-Time Feature Film Award by the Directors Guild of America and Mátyás Erdély won the Spotlight Award of the American Society of Cinematographers, tying with Adam Arkapaw, the cinematographer for ‘Macbeth’. Just days before the Oscars, ‘Son of Saul’ won Best Foreign Language Film at the Satellite Awards and Best International Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, while Tamás Zányi and his colleagues received the Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award in the Foreign Feature Film category. Finally, on February 28, ‘Son of Saul’ won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was the second time for Hungary to be awarded in this category, 34 years after István Szabó’s ‘Mephisto’.

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54

th

ISTVÁN SZABÓ born on 18 February 1938

in 1975 Szabó was the recipient of the Kossuth Prize in Hungary, the highest acknowledgement by the Hungarian government for contributions to Hungarian culture

in 1981 his feature film 'Mephisto' was invited to the competition section of the 34th Cannes Festival where it won the International Critics’s Prize by the FIPRESCI as well as the award for Best Screenplay

in 1985 his feature film 'Colonel Redl' was nominated for an Oscar Award for the Best Forign Film and won the Jury Prize at the 38th Festival de Cannes

in 1982 'Mephisto' won Hungary’s second Oscar

MTI photo

in 1986 he has been invited to the Jury of the 39th Festival de Cannes

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th

LASZLO NEMES born on 18 February 1977

in 2016 Nemes was the recipient of the Kossuth Prize in Hungary, the highest acknowledgement by the Hungarian government for contributions to Hungarian culture

in 2015 his first feature film 'Son of Saul' was premiered in competition at the 68th Festival de Cannes, where it won the Grand Prix of the festival

in 2016 Nemes won Hungary’s third Oscar with 'Son of Saul'

in 2016 he was invited to the Jury of the 69th Festival de Cannes

photo by Tamás Kovács MTI

in 2016 the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film has gone to 'Son of Saul'

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Animation is the Loneliest Genre You’ll Ever Do 2016 has been a great year for Hungarian animation: Sundance had ‘Limbo Limbo Travel’, Berlinale premiered Oscar-shortlisted Réka Bucsi’s brand new piece ‘Love’, and now Cannes has announced its choice: Nadja Andrasev and Luca Tóth.

Ten years ago neither of them would have imagined they would be preparing for their Cannes premiere. Animation was not their first choice: Nadja wanted to be an ethologist, and Luca had thought of becoming an actress or a traveller of some kind. “Classic choices for children! When I started acting at the age of 16, it turned out I really hated performing, but at the same time I really enjoyed the empathy in the process. I’ve always liked drawing, so animation felt like the right direction to go in. It all seemed so free to me as there are so many aspects to the work: you can be an actor, an illustrator, a painter or a sound designer.” As a child, Nadja attended the summer camp run by the famous Hungarian animation studio Pannónia Filmstúdió. “I enjoyed it very much, and when I came back to Hungary after living in the United States I began to work in the film industry as an assisant director, almost by accident. It was filmmaking, so it felt pretty close to animation. I had never learned how to draw professionally and working 12 hours a day meant that I didn’t even have the time to, so getting into MOME was not something I thought could ever be possible.”

Nadja Andrasev

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Directors in animation tend to be afraid of working with large groups of filmmakers. “There are many introverted people among us who want to work alone”, says Luca. “We have big plans, but we also have difficulty communicating our vision. We don’t want to work with everyone in an actual moment, like on a set. We work all the time, by ourselves, secretly and concentrated, so it’s a much more intimate process. The work and the result are too.”

photos by Gábor Valuska

So is animation the loneliest genre you’ll ever do?

“Absolutely”, nods Nadja, who has been in the film industry for 14 years. “I would never direct a live action film. Never. I would get nervous in front of a crew waiting for orders. I always loved and still love working on location, but I feel like I somehow have to prove my creativity. Drawing has always been part of my life, and there came a time when I felt I needed more. But as an animator I still use much more cinematic aspects than I should”. Luca, on the other hand, is the exact opposite: “I think in animation, so I can switch from a real place to an imaginary one in a split second. In ‘Superbia’ there are body parts that a real camera can’t show.”

Both directors studied at MOME where they enjoyed the greatest artistic freedom in learning their profession. Luca finished her studies at the Royal College in London, which is the closest animation can get to fine arts. “We received a lot of critical advice at MOME. I felt like we had to survive to defend the artist in ourselves or at least the artist we wanted to be. Royal College is the exact opposite, where you just create whatever you like. I don’t know which method is better.”

MOME is a project-oriented school. For her diploma film, Nadja had to adapt a literary work into animation. She chose Ádám Bodor’s short story ‘The Noise of Licking’, which is about a woman who is very intimate with flowers and a cat who stalks her through the window. The cat disappears, but a strange man arrives licking an ice cream and watching the woman just as the cat had. “I liked the situation of being watched in your own environment, so I created the whole story around the cat and the woman. The short story is only two pages long.” Nadja created the world around them and around the imagination of the cat trying to understand the basic act of watering. “I have a cat and sometimes I wonder about the world he lives in. Beyond that, there is another cat watching me through my window.

Very scary!”

“I don’t have a cat. It’s so sad!” Luca’s ‘Superbia’ came from a participation at Animation Sans Frontières. “You have to pitch an idea, so I collected my former stories and put them together.

I started with the characters, the symbols and the world they live in. I couldn’t really tell you the story, I just used a 15-page long visual board for a film. It takes place in an imaginary world where something very basic changes. There are two nations: men and women. The men live in big caves and the women hunt them. And everybody is naked.” ‘Superbia’ was hard to pitch. “You have to simplify a complex idea like this. And I think I may have oversimplified my story, because in the end it did not remind me of my own work. So

Luca Tóth

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Superbia

I started working on the animatic because I was 100% sure I wanted to make this film. I just hoped I could finance it somehow, but once we had the animatic it was much easier to find funding.”

‘Superbia’ was funded by the NMHH helyett Media Council's Patronage Programme, and a coproduction with the Czech Republic and Slovakia, ‘The Noise of Licking’ is a diploma film funded by the National Film Fund.

The average budget for a short animation is HUF 1 million (EUR 3 000) per minute, but not for a diploma film or even a low-budget animation.

“When it comes to dubbing, a short animation cannot afford to pay real money for a real actor.” There are no dialogues in ‘The Noise of Licking’, but if you pay attention you can hear human voices. Just like in ‘Superbia’, where it was absolutely neccessary to only use sounds (laughter, moaning) because Luca did not want to use any human language.

Festivals and festival audiences prefer short films without dialogue because they don’t need any translation. But this is something a filmmaker should not consider: “Producers and consultants often think that we should do this or that because of a festival’s preference. But it’s a mistake, because then you wash out the good and personal things from your film. You should always concentrate on what you would like to tell with your story and why. It’s the only way you can stay relevant and honest.” Nadja agrees: you have to focus on your story and mood. “For a very long time I thought my title had to be international, but I simply preferred “The Noise of Licking”. And I think it was the right choice, although many people tried to talk me out of it.”

‘Superbia’ is definitely R-rated, which may sound surprising as animation is considered to be a genre for all ages. “I can understand if you 34

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The Noise of Licking

are surprised to be watching human genitalia in a short animation.” ‘The Noise of Licking’ is sometimes interpreted as just a cat movie for lonely women or a love story between a cat and a woman. “But it’s great to have so many interpretations. I wanted to present a strange situation, and the story behind it is up to the viewer.”

MOME has had a good run in recent years: ‘Rabbit and Dear’, ‘Symphony 42’, ‘Limbo Limbo Travel’ and now ‘Superbia’ and ‘The Noise of Licking’. “We are definitely a big group of friends and we work in close connection with each other. We are mainly artists who have recently finished their studies. It’s a very inspiring and creative group. And yes, MOME brought us together.” Zsuzsi Kreif, the director of Sundance guest ‘Limbo Limbo Travel’, also worked on ‘The Noise of Licking’, and Nadja and Luca are now working together for an upcoming diploma film and both have shared the same crew: Péter Benjámin Lukács as sound designer and Bálint Gelley as composer. They were the first to hear the good news: ‘The Noise of Licking’ got into Cinefondation and ‘Superbia’ will be part of the Critics Week as the only animation in the programme. “It is so great that Cannes screens short live action films and short animation together, because you are then forced to watch good quality of both genres. This is a great opportunity for us to introduce ourselves to a new audience and reach as many viewers as possible.”

Sure Cannes can give a great head start, but it’s more than that: “It’s good to be among other animation filmmakers, because sometimes we are treated like weirdos. We are filmmakers as well, not cartoon artists. But since I have literally just finished ‘Superbia’, I want to enjoy Cannes as much as I can!”

by Anita Libor

M A F I L M

S T U D I O S

n our services

sound stages, standing sets, props, costumes and armours

n Budapest Studios

– 10 minutes from the City Centre n 800

sqm stage with standing green screen and water tank, 400 sqm stage with green screen, n further smaller studios, rehearsal- and supporting rooms n Mafilm Audio – audio post-production studio, Dolby Digital sound mixing

n Fót Studios

– 10 km from Budapest – 57 acre facility n 1600

sqm and 1000 sqm sound stages, 55 m long, 6 m height exterior green screen n 11 000 sqm medieval standing set (exterior and interior sets) – expandable, extendable on demand The Phantom of the Opera, Anna Karenina, Cyrano, Brother Cadfel, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, Evita, The Hunchback, A Knight in Camelot, Crime and Punishment, Mary Mother of Jesus, The Prince and the Pauper, Spy Game, I Spy, Dinotopia, Underworld, Being Julia, The Lion in Winter, A Christmas Carol, Fateless, Copying Beethoven, Eragon, Robin Hood, Amusement, John Adams, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Season of the Witch, Le Rafle, The Pillars of the Earth, Memories of Anne Frank, The Dept, The Raven, Bel Ami, World Without End, Asterix, The Centenarian, Kenau, Alatriste, Houdini, Spy, The Last Kingdom, Casanova, Napoléon

CONTACT

Hungarian National Film Fund MAFILM Studios • H-1145 Budapest, Róna utca 174.

Phone: +36 1 252-2870 • E-mail: production@mafilm.hu • www.mafilm.hu

photo by Gábor Valuska

“We Built a Community”

Numerous Hungarian short animations competed at the most prestigous festivals all around the world in the recent years. Most of these films were produced by the Moholy-Nagy University of Art And Design in Budapest.

We talked with József Fülöp, the rector of the school.

You were previously the head of the Animation Department at MOME. What drove you, as animation film director, to undertake the role of the head of the institution?

In the 1990s digitalisation started knocking louder and louder on our doors – which created a new situation. I was curious as to how young people used it and what changes had been brought on in their way of thinking. I can’t figure out why that is, but just like waterpolo, animation is probably a talent in our genes that rises to the surface with ease.

Thanks to the digital era, we realised that the equipment, which is necessary in animation

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József Fülöp, the Rector of MOME

filmmaking, is more easily variable and accessible, as well as being much more easily adaptable for teaching animation, which didn’t use to be the case.

The accession to the EU saw a lot of new opportunities for European collaboration, for the creation of joint workshops, which opened that perspective up for students. They were able to realise what we’re good at, and we could together realise what we’re not good at and how to improve. We thought as a group. We built a community and organised teamwork between students as well as teamwork between teachers and students.

Réka Bucsi appears in the Berlinale Shorts competition, Nadja Andrasev is competing in Cinéfondation and Luca Tóth is in the Critics Week programme, just to name a few among the several MOME films in festivals. Apart from acquiring both a national and an international reputation, what kind of impact can they have in the long term?

The most direct impact is of course on their own lives, and I hope that they can live off it and launch their creator careers. But if we look a little further down the line, the impact will ideally be that the decision-makers might realise, either in the economic competition domain or in the cultural domain, the potential of a country’s image and creative industry, which is where products of a world standard can emerge. A couple of successes here and there, an Oscar nomination, being present at Cannes or festival successes can be the exclamation marks to build a cultural support system to supply Hungarianlanguage content to growing Hungarian children

of all times. From that point of view animation is the most adaptable tool for it.

Whoever works in teaching or in assistance should use them wisely by way of a kind of cultural diplomacy. We usually say that the French are extremely proud of their cheese, wine and films. And that they do everything so that these three cultural products really have the representable effects on national economy. And there must be methods to reach that. For us these festival successes are like fireworks.

At the Festival de Cannes, one of the world’s biggest festivals, you go and you think it will all be about you, and of course part of it is, but at the same time you’re only a tiny drop in the ocean.

How can you prepare them to assert themselves in this kind of situation?

The eternal question is where to put the limit so that a school doesn’t think beyond its own role.

When do you let the creators go, when do you set them free to run around and not run with them at all costs. Personally I’ve always thought that a school is doing the right thing if it doesn’t set limits too strictly.

From the mid 2000s we were given the opportunity to collaborate with other schools. We were able to establish platforms in the framework of co-productions where we could incubate these situations, where the abovementioned ladies, Luca and Nadja, were also present. That’s what Animation Sans Frontières is about. It has been operating for almost 10 years now.

MOME is smack in the middle of a big renovation project. Its campus is being refurbished and new buildings are growing out of the ground. What will this mean for the Animation Department?

The most important goal is to create a home for ourselves, for teachers and for students. In the last 15-20 years MOME heavily concentrated on knowledge and on interesting people. However, it wasn’t able to establish a physical environment

where ideas are not just defined according to a meeting point of view but are also according to a creation point of view.

I hope that from the animation teaching point of view it will be a significant change. Because in the past few years we experienced a difficulty in pinning creators down because there were no computers that were powerful enough or there were no tables that would be available to the same person for a full year. We would therefore like to improve our course and get an animation studio up and running for our three-year bachelor degree. We’ll establish a workshop that actually follows a studio model, with all kinds of knowledge that doesn’t exist in a studio but does in a university.

How do you see the past situation of Hungarian animation?

A generation has come about that is able to take its own initiative to seize opportunities after school. I think we’re in a much better place now than we were 10 years ago, for example. And among other things it’s thanks to changes in the support systems. Media Patronage programme and Hungarian National Film Fund took into consideration what hadn’t been possible in the ‘90s, which was that animation couldn’t be sustained, not because we support the art of animation but because we push the animation industry forward. So there can be support for series and also for long-term, sustainable economic projects. The only question is where will they be shown? On thematic TV channels?

Theoretically they exist in Hungary, but in practice there hasn’t been any breakthrough yet.

In order for the contents to become available, it would be important for decision-makers to think about how there could be a return on the investment that they are currently pouring into various support programmes.

Another similar systemic issue is, for example, how to support co-productions. How could both young and old Hungarian studios join a Slovakian, Czech, Polish or French project?

Because there have been examples of the other way around. Either we’re doing service jobs or we’re able to lure producers of French films into joining Hungarian projects.

We'll soon find out whether Hungary will deliver long-lasting successful short film directors, successful feature-length animation films or brands like we had in the '70s and '80s - TV shows with recognisable characters - to foster the development of the Hungarian industry and culture of animation films.

The Noise of Licking

by Dániel Deák

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A Film that Does not Age Károly Makk’s ‘Love’ in Cannes Classics 45 years after the first showing in competition at Cannes, 'Love' (Szerelem) is back on the big screen. The audience at the 69th Festival de Cannes will get the chance to see Károly Makk's masterpiece selected for the Cannes Classics section, which pays particular attention to restored versions of classic films.

Károly Makk, who celebrated his 90th birthday last year, was born in the Hungarian town of Berettyóújfalu. He grew up in a family of film enthusiasts, so already at a young age his fate was irreversibly bound to the calling he would later choose for himself. He went on to create one of the richest and most significant films in the history of Hungarian cinema. After having trained as an associate director alongside the country's greats at the time, Zoltán Fábri and Zoltán Várkonyi, Makk debuted in the Cannes competition in 1955 with his very own comedy, 'Liliomfi'.

A good 15 years and several directions later, 'Love' became the work of a creator who by that stage was highly esteemed. The film is based on the contemporary Hungarian author Tibor Déry's two short stories, 'Love' and 'Two Women' and remains almost entirely faithful to its sources.

The first is about the politically motivated government show trials whose outcomes were decided upon even before the trials. The second is about the consequences of the events of the Hungarian uprising and the fight for freedom against the Soviet forces, which broke out in 1956. Makk presents the two in a straightforward and realistic way. In 'Love', the reader finds out about how B., a convicted politician, got from Pest to Buda, first by tram and then by taxi, from a world of inhumane workings of authority and constant tension to home: his wife, his son, solidarity and compassion. The most iconic scene in the novel also finds its way into the final minutes of the future full-length feature film, when the woman washes the man, at once raising him to a Christ-like pedestal and giving

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back to him the intimacy worthy of humans.

'Two Women' takes the reader through the days spent by a mother and her daughter-inlaw, which form the core of Makk's film. One is waiting for her husband who has been convicted for political reasons, while telling the other that her son has gone to America to direct films. She does everything in her power to make sure that everything should at least go as well as it can for him, as the mother will most probably not make it to see him return home. Everything aims towards this until the very last moment, the very last gesture.

While Károly Makk and his cinematographer János Tóth prepared their film 'Cats' Play', which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category, they started working on an association montage technique, which they had in fact already used in their earlier collaborative work, 'Love'. This is how the latter film became the story of two women. The older woman has obstinately lived almost a century waiting for her son, but she's about to give up. The younger woman remains faithful to her husband and as she wants to live her whole life with him, she cannot give up. The life shared by these two

Love / Szerelem

by Károly Makk – Cannes Classics 15 May 10pm Théâtre Buñuel PREMIERE

Whoever sees 'Love' and then reads Déry's writings will probably realise that the two female protagonists, who at Cannes received separate recognition for their performance, instinctively come to mind. Over the years the intonation, facial expressions, posture and movements appear in Mari Törőcsik, who was rendered a greatly admired woman by this Hungarian film.

In fact, throughout the length of the film, so are the bedridden Lili Darvas's face, beautiful eyes and gestures. It's almost as if you can hear their voices in your head. And this strong and memorable impression doesn't necessarily depend on the individual portrayals, but rather on the unique chemistry that exists between the two actresses. Alongside them is a third great actor, Iván Darvas, whose presence, without the use of any tools but is rendered no less powerful, draws the film to a close. The tight spaces and the sequences of quick montages in the scenes of 'Love', which take place in the mother's flat or at neglected locations around Budapest during a particularly cold spring, create an utterly different, universally felt atmosphere in János Tóth's cinematography.

In Déry's 'Love', B. is deprived even of a name.

In Makk's 'Love', Iván Darvas portrays János.

"Have I aged?" "I have aged". It's not even the story's injustice that hurts but the fact that they've lost so much of their own life.

It's precisely because of the similarities to real life that Makk's film hasn't aged at all since its first screening. It's about people; in this case the story is sometimes about how bringing someone back is desired and idealised, and sometimes it is about the currently unbreakable and threatening backdrop. The bottom line is people.

In 1971 'Love' brought home the Jury Prize from Cannes as well as the OCIC

prize, the predecessor of the Ecumenical Jury. In 2000 it was selected as one of the New 12 Best of Budapest, which are the 12 best films in the Hungarian history of cinema so far. Following his success with 'Love', Károly Makk returned to the festival many times. Later on with 'Cats' Play' (1974), 'A Very Moral Night' (1978), 'Another Way' (1982, FIPRESCI Prize) and another Tibor Déry adaptation, 'The Last Manuscript' (1987), was also in competition to receive a Palme d'Or. Just as Miklós Jancsó's film 'The Round-Up' last year, the completely restored 4K digital copy of 'Love' is part of this year's Cannes Classic programme. The digitalisation and renovation were carried out in the Focus-Fox Studio and the Hungarian Filmlab, with the application support of the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA), the cooperation of MaNDA and the initiative of the Hungarian National Film Fund.

by Nóra Kinga Forgács

photo by #SZFE150 (Attila Damokos, Marcell Nagy, Máté Szórád)

women is about love and dignity. But if there were also powerful connections in the sensitive relationship between the two, it wouldn't be love and dignity, but rather devotion. Just as the mother hands over her son to the younger woman, the latter shows respect to the former until the very end. Until the final third of the film, B. of 'Love' and János of 'Two Women' are only alluded to and appear only as memories. Károly Makk's technique of realisation enables him to form an emotional and sensitive bond with his audience. He is also able to make a particular historical moment last to encompass a century worth of history and of people’s life stories, memories and desires.

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Coming Soon Upcoming films: various genres and authors; long-awaited first features and comebacks.

This is where you can learn about all of them.

FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Coming Soon 1945 DIRECTED BY FERENC TÖRÖK PRODUCED BY IVÁN ANGELUSZ, PÉTER REICH / KATAPULT FILM On a sweltering August day in 1945, villagers prepare for the wedding of the town clerk’s son. Meanwhile two Orthodox Jews arrive at the village train station with mysterious boxes labelled “fragrances”. The town clerk fears the men may be heirs of the village’s deported Jews and expects them to demand he returns the drugstore he acquired for his son. Other villagers are afraid more survivors will come, posing a threat to the property and possessions they have acquired.

A period drama based on Gábor T. Szántó’s short story 'Homecoming'.

AURORA BOREALIS - Northern Light (Aurora Borealis - Északi ​fény) DIRECTED BY MÁRTA MÉSZÁROS PRODUCED BY ISTVÁN MAJOR, GÜL TOGAY / FILMTEAM Auteur of 'Adoption' (Golden Bear, Berlinale 1975), 'Nine Months' (Prix FIPRESCI, Cannes 1977) and 'Diary for my Children' (Grand Prix Special du Jury, Cannes 1984), Márta Mészáros directed once again a film that examines a social taboo, this time the story of children fathered by occupying Russian soldiers.

“If you want to tell the truth, honesty is not enough.” – Living in Vienna, Olga realises that there are secrets and lies in her family past, and she will not be able to put her own life in order until she works out the truth of what really happened. After returning to Hungary, her elderly mother did everything in her power to keep the past a secret from her daughter and lied to her for years, but when she falls into a coma, Olga finds a mysterious photograph and starts to search for the truth.

BRAZILS (Brazilok) 1st feature film DIRECTED BY CSABA M. KISS, GÁBOR ROHONYI PRODUCED BY MÓNIKA MÉCS / M&M FILM Ethno-tale with humour and tears. Chaos bursts out among the gypsy minority of the town of Acsa when the mayor, urged by the new young priest of the village, announces that this year the gypsy football team called Brazils can also take part in the football championship of the village; and this year, thanks to a Brazilian millionaire originally from Acsa, the winning team will be invited to Rio de Janiero. The championship starts. Events, emotions and anger take unpredictable directions. Those who win in the end were not supposed to be the winners, and those who find love, were not supposed to fall in love with each other.

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Coming Soon THE CITIZEN (Az állampolgár) DIRECTED BY ROLAND VRANIK PRODUCED BY KÁROLY FEHÉR / POPFILM Set in modern-day Budapest, 'The Citizen' deals with the troublesome subject of social integration via an immigrant love story. Amateur actors and minimal technical equipment are utilised to portray real human dramas with humour and empathy.

Wilson, the main protagonist, is in his fifties from Black Africa, who lost his family in the atrocities of war and fled to Budapest as a political refugee. He has worked in a supermarket as a security guard for a number of years now and his one aim in life is to become a Hungarian citizen.

COYOTE (Kojot) 1st feature film DIRECTED BY MÁRK KOSTYÁL PRODUCED BY GÁBOR KÁLOMISTA, DOROTTYA HELMECZY / MEGAFILM Muggy heat, small-town bleakness, unspoken social problems, hierarchy fights. This is the town of Tűzkő somewhere in Hungary. Here comes Misi who inherits his grandfather’s house and his property. Misi is a disillusioned, frustrated young man. He can’t find his role in his life, his job or a relationship. He starts to build and renovate a house with some men from the town, but it violates the local oligarch’s interests. Hard struggle begins for the property, for the love and for the life. Misi becomes a real coyote in every aspect.

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Coming Soon JUST DROP DEAD (Halj már meg!)

DIRECTED BY ZOLTÁN KAMONDI (1960 – 2016) PRODUCED BY GÁBOR FERENCZY / FOCUS FOX Following the sudden death of a mysterious engine driver in his sixties, the Wife, the Lover, her illegitimate Daughter and an increasing number of shady characters from his spurious past want to know the true identity of the man they loved. They are dying to know which of them was really loved by him, and where he has hidden the fantastic fruit of his double life. In their deadly struggle, our heroes find themselves in the centre of a satirical crime comedy, the sinful roots of which stretch back to the eighties, the closing decade of the socialist era.

THE INVINCIBLE (Kincsem) DIRECTED BY GÁBOR HERENDI PRODUCED BY TAMÁS HUTLASSA / CAFÉ FILM Hungary mid-1800s – an epic romantic drama set against the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution and the reprisals of Austrian Habsburgs. As defeated Hungarians are placed under martial law two families’ lives will become intertwined by one of the world’s greatest race horses – Kincsem.

Hungarian aristocrat and supreme horse trainer Sándor Blaskovich is killed when his once friend Austrian Officer Otto von Oettingen is sent to arrest him for treason. Von Oettingen takes over the Blaskovich castle with his young daughter Klara, while Sándor Blaskovich’s orphaned son Ernő is consigned to a poor workers cottage.

Ernő cannot forgive either Von Oettingen or the emperor for taking his father’s life, land and honour.

Years later he will purchase and train a magnificent horse Kincsem which he believes will be his ticket to regain his family home. The horse grows into a prized and unbeatable champion, but is wild and unruly - as is the woman who also shows a keen interest in Kincsem and Ernő – Klara von Oettingen.

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Coming Soon ON BODY AND SOUL (Testről és lélekről) DIRECTED BY ILDIKÓ ENYEDI PRODUCED BY MÓNIKA MÉCS, ANDRÁS MUHI / INFORG-M&M FILM Cannes Camera d’Or winner ('My 20th Century', 1989) Ildikó Enyedi’s romantic melodrama is an unusual love story set in the everyday world. The plot is based around the duality of sleeping and waking, mind and matter.

What would happen if you met someone, who dreamt the same as you or, to be more precise, had been meeting you in the same world every night for years?

Would you be pleased? Or would you feel that you had been in some way robbed?

And what if this specific individual didn’t exactly appeal to you?

What if you actually hated that person?

THE PERFECT KILLER (A tökéletes gyilkos) DIRECTED BY JÓZSEF PACSKOVSZKY PRODUCED BY JENŐ HÁBERMANN / FILMART A depressed homicide detective works on a strange case.

He should catch a suspected killer who was his late daughter’s best friend. The fugitive, a 23 year-old pretty girl, knocks on his door and asks him to hide her….

In a few days they realize that they are a part of a bigger game.

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Coming Soon PICTURESQUE EPOCHS (Festői korszakok) documentary DIRECTED BY PÉTER FORGÁCS PRODUCED BY LÁSZLÓ KÁNTOR / FEST-FILM & MÁTRIX FILM Péter Forgács is an internationally renowned film director and media artist whose latest work is a time travel that spans 200 years of Hungarian history and the aspects of its complex, interweaving art and existence with the substantive comments of art historian Géza Perneczky conducting us through different ages and concepts of painting.

The monumental saga, which merges fine arts and filmmaking as well as private and public life, is the story of four generations throughout different epochs of Hungarian artistic life.

The protagonist of 'Picturesque Epochs' is Mária Gánóczy (1927-), a painter and a film aficionado who comes from a family of female artists as far back as her great-grandparents. She brought up nine children with her husband József Breznay (1916-2012), a fellow painter. Gánóczy's films and paintings immortalised the checkered history of Central Europe.

Forgács’s works see representative personal and historical layering by using the most varying film tools and textures: paintings, faded photos, 8-mm film footages, news sections, handwritten documents and radio archives, as well as present-day HD interview recordings.

'Picturesque Epochs' combines art, family papers and the distinctive features and iconic turns of different eras in this intimate yet extensive saga.

SOUL EXODUS - A klezmer story documentary DIRECTED BY CSABA BERECZKI PRODUCED BY PÁL SÁNDOR / FILM STREET The story of five secretive characters, told with Klezmer music.

Five 21st Century young and not so young men someplace in the world. They are musicians in search for someone and something which might have been born in their imagination. Once upon a time in the beginning of the 20th century there lived a Klezmer musician and storyteller Prince Nazaroff. Many people don’t believe he ever existed, but these five do. They have imagined him, and imagination can be stronger than reality. To this day, Nazaroff lives in them. They can’t except that something could disappear forever. They call themselves ‘The Brothers Nazaroff’.

A deeply emotional story told through Klezmer music about identity, emigration, inner emigration, brothers and godbrothers, religion and belief, faith and disbelief.

A modern story about our strange world we live in.

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Coming Soon STRANGLED (A martfűi rém) DIRECTED BY ÁRPÁD SOPSITS PRODUCED BY GÁBOR FERENCZY / FOCUS FOX This gripping psycho-thriller grapples with an incredible anomaly of crime and punishment as it examines and expands the extraordinary story of the infamously malicious Martfű Murderer. The chilling fact is that this psychotic killer was able to carry on slaughtering innocent souls at will because an innocent man was wrongly condemned for the crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison.

Set in the suffocating social, political and psychological atmosphere of an Eastern Bloc state at the height of socialism, the audience becomes entangled in the web of drama and conspiracy that weaves its way through this engrossing tale played out in the stark reality that was provincial Hungary in the 1960s.

TROUPERS (Vándorszínészek) DIRECTED BY PÁL SÁNDOR PRODUCED BY PÁL SÁNDOR / FILMSTREET Set in the early 1800s, based on the diary of a prompter, this period road movie is laced with humour and irony.

Come snow, frost or scorching heat, a ragtag band of comedians trudge along the highways and byways, hoping to make it to the capital, to perform in a real theatre in front of a sophisticated audience. Love, friendship, betrayal and reconciliation - anything is possible on this inner and outer journey, aback the rickety round top wagon.

WELL (Kút) 2nd feature film DIRECTED BY ATILLA GIGOR PRODUCED BY FERENC PUSZTAI / KMH FILM A gas station in the middle of nowhere: a young man arrives to meet his father he hasn’t seen for 30 years.

On the same day, a van with four prostitutes breaks down at the very same gas station, on the way to Switzerland. The three days they spend together in the station change their lives forever.

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New Films from

Hungary

Flip through the latest titles in every genre and learn about the cast, crew and contacts.

Feature Film

The Carer (JutalomJáték)

Demimonde (Félvilág)

89 min, 2015

88 min, 2015

Director: János Edelényi Cast: Brian Cox, Coco König, Emilia Fox, Anna Chancellor and Roger Moore Producer: József Berger, Charlotte Wontner, Steve Bowden Production company: Mythberg Films, Hopscotch Films, Vita Nova Films FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu SALES: miira@yellowaffair.com

Director: Attila Szász Main cast: Patrícia Kovács, Dorka Gryllus, Laura Döbrösi Producers: Tamás Lajos, Tamás Mink Production company: Szupermodern Stúdió Kft. Contact: info@szupermodern.hu

Theatrical legend Sir Michael Gifford is terminally ill.

He’s also foul-mouthed and impossible to be around. Into his fraught household comes Hungarian immigrant girl Dorottya to act as yet another badly treated caregiver - but she also brings with her a secret, and through it a second chance at life for Sir Michael.

After graduating from the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest both as a director and as a DOP, Edelényi joined Hungarian television. His work with György Fehér on ‘Richard II’, ‘Richard III’ and ‘Volpone’ was seen as groundbreaking, and the pair were twice awarded the Grand Prize, the Prize For Best Photography and the Best TV Adaptation Prize. In 2009, he co-wrote and directed the multi-award winner ‘Prima Primavera’, a HungarianBulgarian-Dutch-UK feature.

Festivals: Palm Springs IFF – Best of Fest Selection, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

In January 1914, a horrific murder shocked the city of Budapest. Elza Mágnás, one of the most famous courtesans in the city, was strangled and her body thrown into the icy waters of the Danube. ‘Demimonde’ chronicles the last four days of Elza’s life through the eyes of a naive maid, detailing Elza’s complex relationships with her housekeeper, her sponsor and her young lover. This film is based on a true story about love, sex, power, passion and murder.

Hungarian writer-director Attila Szász graduated from the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest in 1996.

He worked as a film critic for several years and started directing from 2002. His first short film, ‘Now You See Me, Now You Don’t’, won 18 awards at various festivals.

His first feature-length movie, the political thriller ‘The Ambassador To Bern’, released in 2014, was invited to screen at over 30 film festivals and won 9 awards.

Festivals and awards: Montreal World Film Festival – nominated for the Grand Prix des Amériques, 2015 International Film Festival of India, Goa, 2015 Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels, FIPA, 2015 Cleveland International Film Festival – nominated for the George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Film Competition, 2016 Nashville Film Festival –Award for Best Actress (Dorka Gryllus), Southwest Airlines Audience Award (Attila Szász), nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, 2016 Tiburon International Film Festival –Golden Reel Award for Best Film, Best Director (Attila Szász), Best Actor (János Kulka), Best Screenplay (Norbert Köbli) and for Best Cinematography (András Nagy) Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

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Feature Film

Fever at Dawn (Hajnali láz) 114 min, 2015 Director: Péter Gárdos Main cast: Emőke Piti, Milán Schruff, Gila Almagor, Andea Petrik, Péter Scherer Producer: Dénes Szekeres Production company: Tivoli Film Kft. FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: gardosd@mofm.hu, lawrence@meyers-media.com He wrote a letter to a hundred and seventeen women till he found a wife. – Based on a true story, set in the Swedish rehabilitation camps during the autumn and winter of 1945, ‘Fever at Dawn’ tells the story of a love born in the strangest of circumstances between two long-suffering survivors of the Holocaust. Their love overcomes all obstacles in its path, and eventually death itself.

The original novel emerged as one of the most soughtafter books of the 2015 London Book Fair, selling to more than 30 territories ever since.

Festivals and awards: Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 2015 Cinequest Film Festival – Best Narrative Feature Film, Drama, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund; the European Union MEDIA Programme; the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm; Filmpool Nord, Luleå; Gotlands Filmfond via Filmregion Stockholm Mälardalen; Swedish Television, Stockholm; and The Jerusalem Film & Television Fund.

Home Guards (Veszettek) 115 min, 2015

Director: Krisztina Goda Main cast: Attila Vidnyánszky Jr., Viktor Klem, Iván Fenyő Producer: Gábor Kálomista Production company: Megafilm FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu ‘Home Guards’ is a powerful drama about two brothers – Máté and Joci – who live in a small Eastern European town. They are recruited by a charismatic leader to join the Home Guards and take a stand against crime.

The boys are happy because, for the very first time in their lives, they feel a sense of real belonging. But things get slowly out of hand as the Guards become an uncontrollable political force.

When Máté refuses to cover up a racist crime, he finds himself classed as an enemy of the Guards and at loggerheads with his own brother.

Krisztina Goda (born 1968) is a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. She is best known for her 2006 film ‘Children of Glory’, which commemorates Hungary’s revolution of 1956. Her other big hit was romantic comedy ‘Just sex’. ‘Home Guards’ is an adaptation of a Hungarian novel written by Bernát László Czető and a film with a sensitive subject matter.

Festivals and awards: Festival international du film d’environnement (FIFE), Best Fiction Film, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

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Feature Film

Kills On Wheels (Tiszta szívvel)

Lily Lane (Liliom ösvény)

105 min, 2016

91 min, 2015

Director: Attila Till Main cast: Ádám Fekete, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Mónika Balsai, Zoltán Fenyvesi, Lídia Danish Producer: Judit Stalter Production company: Laokoon Filmgroup FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Director: Bence Fliegauf Main cast: Bálint Sótonyi, Angéla Stefanovics, Miklós Székely B. Producers: Ernő Mesterházy, Bence Fliegauf Production company: Hímpor Film kft.

FESTIVALS, SALES: gabor@filmsboutique.com

This is a meaningful action-comedy of a wheelchairbound assassin gang. Driven by despair and fear of becoming useless, a 20-year-old boy, his friend, and an ex-fireman offer their services to the mafia.

But things are not what they seem.

The boundaries between reality and fiction blur and the story becomes a whirling kaleidoscope showing us gangsters and gunfights, but also the challenge of life in a wheelchair and the pain caused by a father’s rejection.

Attila Till graduated from the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in the Intermedia department. His first feature film 'Panic' premiered in 2008 at the Hungarian Film Review where it was recognized in a number of categories, and won the Best Main Actress award.

In 2011, with his short film 'Beast', he won several international awards, among other the Silver Dragon Prize for the Best Fiction Film of the Krakow Film Festival and the Bronze Horse for the Best Short Film at Stockholm Film Festival, and was selected for the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs sections of the Festival de Cannes.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Rebeka has been living alone for a while, and it’s during this time that she meets her son Dani. The two of them share a life full of grand secrets and magical tales. Not long after their reunion, Rebeka’s mother dies, forcing her to face her past, look her father up and go back to her childhood home - the place where her mother died.

Tale by tale, Rebeka reveals her past to her son. Her memories soon turn into demons, but Rebeka and Dani don’t turn back, choosing to face them head on instead - embracing them, riding them and using them to move forward.

Bence has become one of Hungary’s most internationally recognised young directors, yet he has never attended film school. Born in Budapest, Bence worked as an assistant director for television and continued on the path towards directing, screenwriting, set design and sound engineering. His first feature film, ‘The Forest’, was premiered in 2003 in the Forum section at Berlinale, and his film ‘Just the Wind’ won the Berlinale’s Grand Jury Prize ten years later.

Festivals and awards: European Film Festival Lecce – Golden Olive Tree Award for the Best Film, 2016 Selected for the Forum section of the 66th Berlinale International Film Festival, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

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Feature Film

Loop (Hurok) 95 min, 2016 Director: Isti Madarász Main cast: Dénes Száraz, Dorina Martinovics, Zsolt Anger, Géza Hegedűs D. Producer: Tamás Hutlassa Production company: Café Film FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu 'Loop' is a time-twist thriller, where the ideas of beginning and ending very quickly merge. Adam loses his pregnant girlfriend in an accident but is soon presented with a series of chances to correct his previous mistakes that led to her death. But a new opportunity does not mean a clean slate so he is forced to face the complicated repercussions of his earlier decisions while trying to keep his girlfriend alive.

Isti Madarász (1976), director and writer, started his career with a short film 'Előbb-utóbb' in 2006, which was selected for the Valladolid International Film Festival and won the Golden Spike Award for Best Short Film.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Mom and Other Loonies in the Family (Anyám és más futóbolondok a családból) 113 min, 2015 Director: Ibolya Fekete Cast: Eszter Ónodi, Tibor Gáspár, Danuta Szaflarska, Juli Básti Producer: Gábor Garami Associate Producer: Gábor Dettre Production company: Cinema-Film FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu This is a zany tale about a family in the 20th century.

Mother lived to be 94 years old and moved 27 times during her life. Moving was her only means of dealing with trouble and danger. In fact, it was history that kept chasing her all over the country and throughout the horrible 20th century.

This is at once a heartwarming and a heartbreaking span of a hundred years and four generations of “fools”.

Ibolya Fekete was born in 1951. She is a writer and director, known for ‘Chico’ (2001) and ‘Bolse vita’ (1996).

The storyline of ‘Mom and Other Loonies in the Family’ is based on her own family’s life, which she wanted to tell before it faded from our collective memory.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Most Of The Souls That Live Here (Az itt élő lelkek nagy része) 92 min, 2015 Director: Igor and Ivan Buharov Main cast: Illés Nyitrai, Domonkos Szabó, Péter Durst, Szabolcs Hajdu, Orsolya Török Illyés FESTIVALS, SALES: igorbuharov@gmail.com Count Ervin Batthyány, the advocate of the anarchist movement, reappears 100 years after his death to once again attempt to put his theories into practice. He realises that the world did not take the turn he had imagined. In fact, nothing of the dominion-free utopia has come true.

He founds another reform school and recruits intellectual partners, with whom he starts a new generation upbringing who, instead of the regime built on violence, think according to the principles of solidarity and voluntary cooperation.

However, the ideals of freedom and equality arouse fear among the leaders of authority, just as they did 100 years ago. Following the reassuring beginning, the actions of the count and his friends encounter one obstacle after another.

Festivals and awards: Europe by Europe Film Festival, Paris - Special Mention, 2016

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Feature Film

My Night, Your Day (Az éjszakám a nappalod)

Son of Saul (Saul fia)

102 min, 2015

Director: Laszlo Nemes Main cast: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont, Sándor Zsótér Producers: Gábor Sipos, Gábor Rajna Production company: Laokoon Filmgroup INTERNATIONAL SALES: info@filmsdistribution.com

Directors: András György Dési, Gábor Móray Cast: Balázs Czukor, Zsófia Szamosi, Zsolt Anger, Péter Scherer, Hanna Pálos, Krisztián Kovács, Milán Vajda Producer: László Kántor Production company: Új Budapest Filmstúdió FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu Novák cannot sleep, not even for a minute. Not to disturb his pregnant girlfriend, with whom he shares a oneroom apartment, he spends his nights in the streets of Budapest, and always comes home in time in the morning to return to his normal life.

He meets new people, experiences new kinds of adventures and gets lost in a dreamlike Budapest night with its magical creatures. But the borders of night and day gradually fade away.

An initiation story disguised as a black comedy with hints of a thriller. One of its main characters is a twofaced metropolis where light and dark, East and West meet.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

107 min, 2015

October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul Ausländer is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the corpse of a boy he takes as being his son’s. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child’s body from the flames, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.

Born in Hungary in 1977, Laszlo Nemes spent his adolescence and young adulthood in Paris after following his mother who had started a new life in the French capital. Nemes grew up between two countries and two cultures, choosing to first study in Paris before leaving for Budapest in 2003 at the age of 26 to learn the ropes of filmmaking. He thus became Béla Tarr’s assistant on the Prologue segment of the collaborative films ‘Visions of Europe’ and ‘The Man from London’. He then directed three short films, notably ‘With a Little Patience’, which was chosen for the 2007 Venice International Film Festival.

Selected Awards: Cannes Film Festival - Grand Prix, FIPRESCI Prize, Francois Chalais Prize, Vulcain Award for Best Sound to Tamás Zányi Sarajevo Film Festival - Special Jury Prize Bitola Manaki Brothers Festival - Golden Camera 300 Main Prize to Mátyás Erdély Stockholm IFF - Best Director Zagreb Film Festival - Main Prize Torún Plus Camerimage - Bronze Frog to Mátyás Erdély National Board of Review (NBR) - Best Foreign Film New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) - Best First Film Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) - Best Foreign Language Film Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) - Best Foreign Language Film San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC) - Best Foreign Language Picture Golden Globe Winner - Best Foreign Language Film Critics’ Choice Award - Best Foreign Language Film Oscar Winner - Best Foreign Language Film Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

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Feature Film ‘Think of Me’ is the bizarre tale of a surgeon whose life seems perfect until he learns that he only has a couple of months left to live. Driven by the best intentions, he decides that the only way to assuage the suffering of others when he dies is to drive everyone away. He deliberately cheats on his wife, starts to drink heavily, gets fired from his job, and generally flies in the face of all things respectable and legal. He has a falling out with everyone who was once close to him, and the effects of his bad behaviour really start to show when…

Think Of Me (Gondolj rám) 96 min, 2016 Director: András Kern Cast: András Kern, Enikő Eszenyi Producer: Dénes Szekeres Production company: Tivolifilm Kft. FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Somewhere between moral drama and ironic comedy, this touching film stars Hungary’s most popular actors.

András Kern, born in 1948, is a Hungarian actor, producer, writer, singer and comedian. Kern also stars in the most popular theatres of Budapest. The film ‘Out of Order’ (1997), with Kern in the main cast, is one of the biggest hits in the history of Hungarian cinema.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

The Wednesday Child (A szerdai gyerek)

Weekend (Víkend)

94 min, 2015

96 min, 2015

Director: Lili Horváth Cast: Kinga Vecsei, Zsolt Antal, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Enikő Börcsök, Annamária Németh, Ede Kovács Producer: Károly Fehér Co-producer: Henning Kamm, Fabian Gasmia, Ági Pataki Production company: Popfilm and Detailfilm FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Director: Áron Mátyássy Main cast: Tamás Lengyel, Kornél Simon, Dorka Gryllus, Attila Árpa Producers: Sándor Csortos Szabó, Ferenc Pusztai Production company: Budapest Film and KMH Film FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu INTERNATIONAL SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

“You were born on a Wednesday, and Wednesday’s children can make it anywhere they really want to”. These were the last words Maja heard her mother say before abandoning her as a child. Maja is now 19 and tries to fulfill this premise and achieve her greatest goal: getting custody of her own 4-year-old son, despite her self-destructive tendencies. Her struggles lead her to an unexpected opportunity and, suddenly, into an erratic love triangle.

Born in 1982, Lili Horváth studied film at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris in 2001-2002. She then continued with a course in television and film direction at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest, where she earned her Master’s in 2009 and embarked upon her doctorate.

Awards: East of the West Karlovy Vary IFF - Best Film, Fedeora Award, 2015 Film Festival Cottbus - Festival of the East European Cinema - Best Director, 2015 Kolkata International Film Festival - Best Film Trieste Award for Best Feature Film, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund and Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein

The film ‘Weekend’ uses an ill-fated hunting party as a backdrop while addressing several darker themes, such as overconfidence, deceit and immorality. Its main characters effortlessly take part in the secretive and manipulative “games” of the business world. They are deceptive professionals who readily and willingly use the tools of the judicial system to their advantage. As they begin to play these games of manipulation against each other, the tables are soon turned and they very suddenly become the victims rather than the oppressors and must ultimately pay for their misdeeds. Áron Mátyássy (1978) graduated as a director from the University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest in 2006.

His debut feature film, ‘Lost Times’ (Utolsó idők, 2009), won the Golden Reel Award at the Hungarian Filmweek and received invitations to several international festivals (Karlovy Vary, Chicago, Mannheim, Warsaw). Mátyássy has worked in different genres: TV series (‘The Curse’ - Átok); TV movies (‘TUK - Please, Sir!’ - T.Ú.K. - Tanár úr, kérem!) and family movies (Berosált a rezesbanda).

‘Weekend’ (Víkend) is his second feature film, which won him HBO’s 2015 Hungarian success series, and ‘Easy living’ (Aranyélet) soon followed.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

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Feature Documentary

Balaton Method

His Parents’ Eyes (Szülei szeme)

85 min, 2015

90 min, 2015 Director: Ágota Varga Cast: Ferenc Császár, Katalin Farkas, Győző Császár Producer: Ágota Varga Production company: Filmira Bt. Contact: agotamira@gmail.com FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu

Director: Bálint Szimler Starring: Hungarian musicians Producer: Gábor Osváth, Gábor Kovács, Árpád Szirmai Production company: Boddah, Filmpartners, VisionTeam FESTIVALS, SALES: gabor@boddah.hu Director Bálint Szimler and cinematographer Marcell Rév ‘White God’ previously worked together on the online video series ‘Kodály Method’. This project consisted of a collection of special music videos that featured music recorded live, and all videos were shot in one continuous take. ‘Balaton Method’ is the continuation and conclusion of their earlier project.

Eighteen Hungarian bands and hundreds of musicians collaborated with Szimler and Rév to make a special music documentary with the iconic Lake Balaton serving as its background.

Ferike is literally his parents’ eyes, because his mother and father are both blind. This is a touching family portrait spanning 11 years. Kati and Győző are just like the rest of us, battling with everyday problems and the difficulties we all experience when we share our lives with others. But their situation is far from familiar to most people, as they are both blind and decided to have a child together. Ferike is perfectly healthy.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

This is the first movie in Hungary to be partially financed by crowdfunding; the film-makers managed to gather EUR 10 000 on Indiegogo.com.

The Lost European (Az elveszett európai) 61 min, 2015 Director: József Sipos Producer: Krisztina Détár Production company: Filmnet Contact: pcnfilm@pcnfilm.hu FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu Even 70 years on, it is vital that the memory of the Holocaust and of Raoul Wallenberg be kept alive.

This film sets out to draw a coherent picture of Raoul Wallenberg in the years preceding the war, not too long before his acts of outstanding heroism.

‘The Lost European’ begins with the introduction of a child growing up in a prestigious Swedish family.

After becoming an orphan, and then a young man, the protagonist unexpectedly finds himself working with a Hungarian Jew. His fate goes on to become triumphantly and tragically entangled with the fate of Eastern European Jewry.

Festivals and awards: Ekaterinburg Documentary Film Festival – Special Prize, 2015 Lagów International Film Festival, 2015 Vukovar Film Festival, 2015 Festival of Tolerance – the Jewish Film Festival Zagreb, 2016

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Feature Documentary

Tititá

Train to Adulthood (Reményvasút)

85 min (​TV version: 54 min​), 2015

79 min, 2015 Director: Klára Trencsényi Producer: Julianna Ugrin Production company: Éclipse Film Kft. SALES, FESTIVALS: julianna.ugrin@eclipsefilm.hu ‘Train to Adulthood’ is a coming-of-age story about three youngsters who find an escape from life’s ordeals by working on the Budapest Children’s Railway. While they enjoy pretending being responsible adults on the train, at home they are forced to suddenly mature. The train is a metaphor used to explore present-day Hungary: a democracy in trouble.

Director: Tamás Almási Main cast: Antal Kuru, Ferenc Snétberger Producer: Tamás Almási and Julianna Ugrin Production company: Filmdimenzió Kft. and A Zene Felemel Kft. FESTIVALS, SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu Anti is a 17-year-old Roma boy who lives in a slum deep in the Hungarian countryside. Anti’s passion is playing the guitar, which earns him and 60 other Roma youth the opportunity to attend the Snétberger Music Talent Centre. Does he have the ability to change what feels like a predestined life and make the most of a golden opportunity? The film is a full-length documentary about struggle and hope, and also introduces the excellent work of the Snétberger Music Talent Centre.

Awards: DOK Leipzig 2015 - Next Masters Competition Golden Dove

Awards: Sarajevo Film Festival - Special Jury Prize, 2015 Supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme and the Hungarian National Film Fund

TV Drama

Bureau (Hivatal)

Janus

52 min, 2015

75 min, 2015

Director: Viktor Oszkár Nagy Main cast: Anna Fignár, Zoltán Batka, Turan Kaya, Elif Kaya, Bernadett Valéria Marton-John, Sanju John Producers: Sára László, Marcell Gerő Production company: Campfilm Contact: office@campfilm.eu

Director: Bence Gyöngyössy Main cast: Zoltán Seress, Erika Marozsán, Tamás Jordán Producer: Barna Kabay Production company: CinemaStar FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu

‘Bureau’ follows everyday events inside a fictional immigration office. There we meet Anna, a new member of the staff. As we follow Anna’s daily routine, we find ourselves faced with sometimes humorous, sometimes thought-provoking, and often touching stories and we begin to understand the pressure that this office places on those who are behind the desks.

In the height of the 1980s, the dramatic fate of a family from the Transylvanian city of Oradea presents how the “two-faced agent” of the Romanian totalitarian regime’s secret police, the Securitate, no other than Janus himself, infiltrates into homes, handles the most intimate moments of his private life and admits his most personal feelings and desires to his family members. The film is based on true events.

This project is supported by the European Union’s European Integration Fund.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Awards: Best TV-film Cinematographer Award - 12th Aranyszem festival, Budapest, 2015 Fipa d’Or for Best Script - FIPA, Biarritz, France, 2016

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TV Documentary

Confessions of a Water Polo Player (Gyurika)

Contemporary Love (Hello, szia, csókolom)

50 min, 2015

Director: Kata Oláh Producer: Gyula Németh Production company: Tv Com SALES: 1kataolah1@gmail.com

Director: Csaba Káel Producer: Endre Nagy Dr. Starring: György Kárpáti Dr. Production company: B&L Line FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu At the age of 80, György Kárpáti Dr. still holds the title of the “youngest” water polo player to ever receive an Olympic gold medal. He was just 17 when the Hungarian national team won the games in Helsinki in 1952. The documentary film follows Dr. Kárpáti’s career from his childhood to the present day. The stories we hear, alternately funny and dramatic, give an insight into the main events of Hungarian history over the past 70 years, viewed through the eyes of a sportsman and of his friends.

50 min, 2015

Set in Budapest, both during the day and at night, at once funny and sad, this is a film about the desired love of the young and the old through a couple of people’s fate. We follow Mex, who is one of the most well-known pick-up artists in Hungary, and the students he teaches his skills to. We also get an insight into the older generation’s new love affairs that started at various dance clubs for pensioners.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Harm (Seb) 52 min, 2015 Director: Dénes Nagy Producers: Sára László, Marcell Gerő (Campfilm), Anna Závorszky (HBO Europe) Executive Producer: Hanka Kastelicová (HBO Europe) Production company: Campfilm FESTIVALS: office@campfilm.eu SALES: anna.zavorszky@hbo.eu Harm means deliberate self-injuring in our poetic documentary, which follows three brave and emotionally capturing characters who are ready to unfold their unsettled past with the risk of discovering something painful along the way.

Festivals and awards: Sarajevo Film Festival, 2015 Filmtettfeszt – Hungarian Film Days, 2015 Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, 2015 Aranyszem Festival, 2015 — Award for the Best Cinematography in a Documentary ZagrebDox International Documentary Film Festival, 2016 Hungarian Film Week, 2016

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TV Documentary

Educational Documentary

City of Terror (Budapest ostroma)

The Kunság - The Secret Life of the Hungarian Puszta (Vad Kunság - A Puszta rejtett élete)

2 x 45 min, 2015 Director: Tamás Babos Producer: Attila Nóti-Nagy, Erika Kissimon Production company: Central European Media Group Kft. FESTIVALS, SALES: notinagy@gmail.com ‘City of Terror’ is the story of one of the longest sieges of World War II. In Budapest, the 100 000 German and Hungarian troops held up a force twice as strong, comprising two Soviet fronts, for 108 days between October 1944 and February 1945. During half of this time, the defenders fought completely encircled by the mighty Red Army. Budapest was so important for Adolf Hitler both politically and strategically that he sent the last reserves of his elite SS panzer divisions to relieve Budapest when the Soviet tanks were just 60 kilometers from the capital of the Third Reich.

Festivals and awards: Hungarian Film Week, 2016 Nice International Film Festival – nominated for the Award of Best Director of a Foreign Language Documentary, 2016 Macae Cine International Film Festival Rio de Janeiro, 2015 UK International Veterans Film Festival, 2016 Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

52 min, 2016 Director: Szabolcs Mosonyi Producer: Erika Bagladi Production company: NatFilm Hungary Kft. FESTIVALS, SALES: natfilm@mailbox.hu In the middle of the Carpathian Basin, lying between the Tisza and the Danube, the landscape is like any other plain in Europe. It was once shaped by winds and rivers, today it bears traces of human activities. However, the Great Hungarian Plain is different. It has a secret life, where something interesting happens all the time. On the endless pastures, male great bustards are hustling and pushing each other in the breeding season. With the migrating birds in spring and autumn the white salty lakes are like big, crowded airports. The golden jackal learnt to become invisible and now comes back. It wanders alone, then finds a mate, brings up its cubs and makes a flock of its own. In the frosty night the new flock wails together, ”This is our land, our empire.”

Festivals and awards: Hungarian Film Week – Best Educational Documentary, 2016 Aranyszem Festival, 2015 – Award for the Best Cinematography in a Nature Documentary Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

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Educational Documentary The Timehopper (Az időgyűrű ura) 3 x 28 min, 2015 Director: Zsolt Marcell Tóth Producer: Zsolt Marcell Tóth, Attila Dávid Molnár Production company: T.ZS.M. Produkció and Természetfilm.hu Contact: tzsm@termeszetfilm.hu ‘The Timehopper’ is a wildlife film about the changes experienced by the habitat and fauna in the Carpathian Basin during and after the Ice Age, which spans some 20 000 years.

Livius Varga, a professional musician, amateur naturalist and fanatic tablet user, is not an introverted man by any means. To activate his brand-new TIMEHOP application that he loaded onto his tablet, Livius must leave civilisation behind and withdraw himself into nature. He creates temporary “time capsule” homes under the rocky peaks of the Carpathian Mountains (Part 1: HOLDING ON), among the reeds of one of the biggest lakes in the Carpathian Basin (Part 2: IN BACKWASH) and under the canopy of a giant oak tree that is several hundred years old (Part 3: IN THE WOODS).

Festivals and awards: International Wildlife Film Festival Montana, 2014 Hungarian Film Week, 2014 International Nature Film Festival – Special Prize, 2014 Envirofilm Festival, 2014 Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Trans Danube 1-2. (Trans Duna 1-2.)

2 x 52 min, Documentary, 2014 Director: Gergő Somogyvári Producer: Ágnes Pataki Production company: Partnersfilm Kft. Contact: gergo.somogyvari@gmail.com

This miniseries portrays the lifestyle of captains of cargo ships on the Danube. It also depicts the river throughout the seasons, from its source to the delta. The mighty river - some 2 580-kilometres long - is one of the longest commercial routes in Europe, but not many people know about the nomadic lifestyle of these captains.

Festivals: Hungarian Film Week, 2016 Mediawave Film and Music Festival, 2016 Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

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Short Film

Beautiful Figure (Szép alak)

The Carrot (A répa)

16 min, 2015

12 min, 2015

Director: Hajni Kis Producer: Miklós Bosnyák Production company: University of Theatre and Film Arts FESTIVALS, SALES: info@filmfabriq.hu

Director: Balázs Lengyel Producer: Ferenc Pusztai Production company: KMH Film FESTIVALS, SALES: linda.pfeiffer@kmhfilm.com

Elsie, the cleaning lady at a high school falls in love with one of the female students.

Andrei finds an enormous carrot on a field. He gathers his family to dig it out, but soon scientists of a nearby nuclear power plant take notice. Andrei would do anything to keep his treasure and feed his family.

Festivals: Hungarian Film Week, 2016 Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

The director develops his first long feature ('Lajkó') within the recently announced Incubator Program of the Hungarian National Film Fund.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Dialogue 7 min, 2016 Director: Gábor Fabricius Writer: Gábor Fabricius Producer: Ferenc Pusztai, Gábor Fabricius Production company: KMH Film, Otherside Stories FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu SALES: danieldeak@daazo.com A lyrical dialogue about European humanism and Eastern European amnesia.

The fantasy-docufiction made it to Béla Bartók’s 1940 emigration, getting past the iron curtains of 1989 and 2016.

Gábor Fabricius is a media designer, film director and writer. In 2000 he won golden Media Lion award at the Cannes Lions Festival, then moved towards directing shorts, music videos, documentaries and multimedia pieces.

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Short Film

En Passant

End of Puberty (A kamaszkor vége)

19 min, 2015

13 min, 2015

Director: Kata Oláh Producer: Gyula Németh Production company: TV-COM FESTIVALS, SALES: 1kataolah1@gmail.com

Director: Fanni Szilágyi Cast: Liza Kárpáti, Zita Szenteczki, Renátó Olasz Producer: Miklós Bosnyák Production company: University of Theatre and Film Arts FESTIVALS, SALES: danieldeak@daazo.com

Sometimes the stake of the game goes beyond victory.

Due to the unpredictable atmosphere created by the aggressive attitude of his father, the 13 years old Andor escapes in the predictable world of chess game. The last tournament of the season has a particular importance for him: he takes granted if he wins, his father disappears from their life. He wins matches in a row. Then the phone rings.

Festivals and awards: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival – Special Mention of the International Jury, 2016 Mediawave Film and Music Festival, 2016

On a beautiful summer’s day, two teenage twins meet a boy who introduces them to sexuality and jealousy, as well as to a real anger that ends up driving them apart.

This moment marks the end of puberty.

Festivals and awards: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival – Best Hungarian Short Film, 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, 2015 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Indian (Indián) 29 min, 2015 Director: Balázs Simonyi Main cast: Örs Szili Zsanda, Károly Hajduk, Péter Rudolf, János Derzsi Producer: Péter Fülöp Production company: FP Films FESTIVALS, SALES: peter@fpfilms.hu During the decades of communism in Eastern Europe, many kids wanted to be American Indians. They were amazed by novels as well as by comics and Western films. For some of them, though, longing for the Wild West was not enough... ‘Indian’ is based on the true story of the daydreamer Galambos in the 1970s somewhere in a Hungarian pioneer camp.

Selected for the Euro Connection marketplace of the International Short Film Festival - Clermont-Ferrand, 2015 Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

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Short Film

The Leaving (Az Elmenetel)

Moment (Pillanat)

12 min, 2015

18 min, 2015

Director: Barnabás Tóth Producer: Barnabás Tóth Production company: TADAM Film FESTIVALS, SALES: barnabastoth.com

Director: Árpád Sopsits Main cast: Ádám Tompa, Zsolt Bredár, Zoltán Toepler, Ákos Orosz Producer: Árpád Sopsits Production company: Soart Theater And Film FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu

The last 10 minutes of humanity. A young girl waits for an operation in a hospital. A Christmas story.

Since graduating from the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest in 2003, Barnabás Tóth has been an independent writer, director and producer. His filmography includes shorts (‘On a train’ and ‘My Guide’, amongst others), animation (‘Grimm Café’), feature (‘Camembert Rose’) and now a short documentary film (‘Hors Pairs’).

“This film was inspired by the 100th Anniversary of Robert Capa’s birth. We play with dramas, relationships, and the snippets of reality that made Capa’s pictures come to life. In the meantime, we explore a more general question in photography: do the contents and message of an image depend on the circumstances of its creation?

Was it genuine or a fake? ‘Moment’ is an impudent tribute to an artist and photographer who documented five wars, before one eventually took his life.” Árpád Sopsits

Mr. Miller (Szabó úr) 21 min, 2015 Director: Áron Ferenczik Producers: Miklós Bosnyák, Áron Ferenczik Production company: University of Theatre and Film Arts FESTIVALS, SALES: arcsur@hotmail.com Mr. Miller cannot feel. He is never angry, never sad. In fact he doesn’t have any​e ​ motions, he cannot suffer from pain, taste or smell. Other then this he is a​​typical Hungarian nobody exploited by all the other Hungarian nobodies.​​Strangers, neighbours, friends, everyone wants something from Mr. Miller and he​g ​ ladly provides. In a single day he loses everything a human being can lose and​​this turns out to be a great fun for everyone except for maybe him. This is an​​absurd tragicomedy about the utter deconstruction of the imperfect Mr. Miller.​ Festivals and awards: Friss Hús Budapest Internatinal Short Film Festival – Best Short Film, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

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Short Film

Pay Day (Fizetős nap)

Romanian Sunrise

24 min, 2016

24 min, 2015

Director: Szilárd Bernáth Producers: Iván Angelusz, Péter Reich Production company: Katapult Film FESTIVALS, SALES: office@katapultfilm.hu

Director: Ábel Visky Cast: Gusztáv Molnár, Ion Sapdaru Producers: Juli Berkes, Eszter Gyárfás, Miklós Bosnyák, István Major Production company: University of Theatre and Film Arts, Proton Cinema, Filmteam FESTIVALS, SALES: berkesjuli@protoncinema.hu

Usurious men give credits in the poorest settlements from Budapest to the east. For many this represents a last opportunity, which is why they value the loan.

Feri still has to choose to denounce Simon, the dreadful usurer in the area.

Festivals: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival, 2016

Dániel, a 30-year-old Hungarian young man, is searching for his father on the Romanian seashore.

Although he hasn’t seen him since early childhood, he has a very special request for him.

Festivals and Awards: Filmtettfeszt – Hungarian Film Days - Best Film Prize and Audience Award, 2015 FFeST Student Film Festival 2015 - Best Film Prize Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Sing (Mindenki) 25 min, 2016 Director: Kristóf Deák Producers: Anna Udvardy, Kristóf Deák Production company: Meteor Film FESTIVALS, SALES: kristof.deak@yahoo.co.uk Zsofi has found it challenging to fit in at her new school, but her outlook begins to change when she is admitted to the school’s famous choir. That is, until she learns that the choir director may not be the inspirational teacher she is touted to be. It will take Zsofi and her new friend Liza to reveal the truth.

Festivals and awards: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival, 2016 – Special Prize TIFF Kids International Film Festival – People’s Choice Award, 2016 Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

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Short Film

Student Union (Gólyatábor)

Tabula Rasa

8 min, 2016

29 min, 2015

Director: György Mór Kárpáti Producers: Ágnes Horváth Szabó, Gábor Osváth, Viktória Petrányi FESTIVALS: gabor@boddah.hu SALES: emilie@originefilms.fr

Director: Sándor Csoma Producers: Csanád Darvas, Sándor Csoma Production company: Budapest Metropolitan University FESTIVALS, SALES: jbarkoczi@metropolitan.hu

The return journey on a train from a freshman summer camp, where 18-year-old Dóra has just been sexually abused. Now the president of the students’ union wants to talk with her.

Festivals: Friss Hús daazo_frisshus.pdf Budapest International 1 2016.

Short Film Festival, 2016

05. 03.

8:09

1990 Transylvania. The dictator is dead. Thirteen year old Emma and Abel fall in love, but their parents’ past harbours a dark secret.

Festivals: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival, 2016 Mediawave Film and Music Festival, 2016

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Short Animation

Balcony (Balkon)

Beyond

6 min, 2015

10 min, 2015

Director: Dávid Dell’Edera Producers: Péter Csornay, Éva M. Tóth Production company: Budapest Metropolitan University FESTIVALS, SALES: jbarkoczi@metropolitan.hu, csornay.peter@umbrella.tv

Director: Milán Kopasz Producer: József Fülöp Production company: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest FESTIVALS: zsbanyai@mome.hu SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Everyone does what they want. The people in this film are not yet sure what they want to do.

The 2D and 3D animated short film will also compete at the Festival International du Film d’Animation d’Annecy in 2016.

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so strongly that not even light can get out. There are also places and situations on Earth that have a similar strange attraction. Some people back off, while others step closer to try to observe it. A woman jumps at the seaside, a housewife prepares lunch, a bug collector eats his in the forest, a man sweeps a stage, a caver sinks deeper and deeper into a grotto. Five characters together encounter strange situations to experience an extraordinary spacetime event.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund.

The Hangnail Picker (A körömágyszaggató) 9 min, 2016 Director: Krisztián Király Producer: József Fülöp Production company: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design FESTIVALS, SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu A twenty-something Hungarian guy ponders over the sometimes unpleasant, sometimes funny, but undoubtedly determining experiences of his life so far.

Festivals: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival, 2016 Mediawave Film and Music Festival, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund.

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Short Animation

Hobart - A Story in the Clouds​(Hobart)

Limbo Limbo Travel

9 min, 2015

15 min, 2014

Director: Hajnalka Harsányi Producer: Hajnalka Harsányi Production company: AmegO Film FESTIVALS: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu

Director: Zsuzsanna Kreif, Borbála Zétényi Producer: József Fülöp Co-producer: Christian Pfohl Production company: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest Co-producer: Lardux Film (Paris) FESTIVALS: danieldeak@daazo.com SALES: annabel@autourdeminuit.com

A little boy called Hobart, a flying pig and a hunter glide through the mysterious world of clouds while unexpected events happen.

Festivals and awards: Foyle Film Festival – nominated for the Light in Motion Awards, 2015

The film begins in a big, technically developed Scandinavian city. Men no longer show any interest towards women; their only love is technology. Women, of course, are very upset about this and continuously attempt increasingly desperate things to get the men’s attention – without any success. There is, however, a way out of this situation: a travel agency called Limbo Limbo Travel organises women-only adventures to faraway lands where they can go to feel attractive again.

Awards: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival Best Hungarian Animation, 2015 Krakow Film Festival, Silver Dragon for best animation Jameson Cinefest Miskolc IFF – Best Animation Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund.

LOVE 14 min, 2016 Director: Réka Bucsi Producer: Marc Bodin-Joyeux, Gábor Osváth Production: Passion Paris, Boddah FESTIVALS: danieldeak@daazo.com SALES: annabel@autourdeminuit.com ‘LOVE’ is a short film that describes affection in three different chapters, through an impact on a distant solar system. Abstract haiku-like situations reveal the change in atmosphere on one planet, in turn caused by the change of gravity and light. This pulsing planet makes the inhabitants become at one with each other in various ways.

Festivals and awards: SXSW Film Festival, nominated for the SXSW Grand Jury Award, 2016 Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival, Best Hungarian Animation, 2016 Selected for the 66th Berlinale International Film Festival Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council.

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Short Animation

The Noise of Licking (A nyalintás nesze) 9 min, 2015 Director: Nadja Andrasev Producer: József Fülöp Production company: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest FESTIVALS: zsbanyai@mome.hu SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu A woman is watched every day by the neighbour’s cat as she takes care of her exotic plants. Their perverted ritual comes to an end when the cat disappears. Time passes, the plants grow tall and the woman lives her life in content isolation until a peculiar man pays her a visit.

Nadja Andrasev graduated at MOME Anim in 2015, and then participated in the Animation Sans Frontières (ASF) international animation workshop.

'The Noise of Licking' was awarded the Best Animation Short Film by the Association of the Hungarian Critics, it will also compete at the Festival International du Film d’Animation d’Annecy in 2016.

Sina and Kore - Genesis (Sina és Koré - Teremtés) 27 min, 2015 Director: Emil Goodman Producers: Miklós Kázmér, Zoltán Hídvégi Production company: Umbrella Kreatív Kft. Co-producer: Dániel Kresméry Executive producer: Péter Csornay FESTIVALS, SALES: csornay.peter@umbrella.tv Sina is a lonely traveler with infinite knowledge. He roams the universe in search of the source of life, hoping that once he finds it he himself will be able to create life. He meets Kore, the betrayed and dying mother of Earth and, as it turns out, together they have the ability to do so.

However, Sina starts to envy the woman’s creative power, which sends their young world onto a path of destruction.

Sina must fight his own nature to earn Kore’s forgiveness so that they can create a world together.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council.

Selected for the Cinéfondation section of the Festival de Cannes, 2016 Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund.

Superbia 16 min, 2016 Director: Luca Tóth Producer: Péter Benjámin Lukács Production company: Fakt Visual Lab, Maur Film, Artichoke, Boddah FESTIVALS: danieldeak@daazo.com SALES: shorts@neweuropefilmsales.com The native people of the surrealistic land of Superbia, where men and women form separate societies, face the changes sparked by the first equal couple in their history.

Luca Tóth got her B.A. diploma in Budapest at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design and made her master studies in England. As graduate of the Animation Department of the Royal College of Art she created 'The Age of Curious' in 2013, which won the Jury Distinction prize in the Graduation Film category at the Festival International du Film d’Animation d’Annecy.

Selected for La Semaine de la Critique of the Festival de Cannes, 2016 Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council.

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Short Animation Series

The Gyurmós (Gyurmók)

The Hoppies (Hoppi Mesék)

5 x 4 min, 2015

7 min, Animated Short Series, 13 episodes, 2016

Director: Frigyes Kapitány Producer: Iván Kapitány Production company: Filmservice Kft. FESTIVALS, SALES: pusztai@filmservice.hu

Director: Ferenc Rofusz, Andrea Miskédi Producer: Ferenc Rofusz, Tamás Salusinszky Production company: The Hoppies Ltd. FESTIVALS, SALES: tamas.salusinszky@thehoppies.com

A writing desk can have many secrets. For example, that someone lives in it. Next to the books there is place for a miniature town with its inhabitants. The population is plastic but determined a small gang that engages in exciting adventures while discovering their new home.

They are the Gyurmók.

‘The Hoppies’ is a non-violent series for children aged 2 through to 7. Each episode is about a different holiday from around the world. The Hoppies are cute little creatures living in Hoppiland and they have a huge calendar that shows each international holiday happening on that day. Hoppiland is a multicultural town where you can find Hoppies of all different nationalities.

Our stories about birthdays, Christmas, carnivals, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Halloween start here.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council.

Festivals and awards: Anim!Arte Festival of Brazil – Special mention, 2015 Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council.

Tales from the Lakeside (Lengemesék) spring season: 7 episodes (various lengths), summer season: 6 episodes (various lengths)​, 2015 Director: Zsolt Pálfi Producer: Réka Temple Production company: Cinemon Entertainment Studio FESTIVALS, SALES: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu​ ‘Tales from the Lakeside’ is a popular children’s book written by Judit Berg based on the four seasons. In spring we are introduced to the world of the Verdies, living in the glorious green rushes. It is here that we first meet Willy Whistle, the daring young Verdie with a heart of gold. Packed with plenty of humour and lots of lessons to be learned, we follow young Willy on his adventures as he battles with the menacing Grimps, helped as always by his Verdie pals and dear old Grandpa.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council.

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HNFF World Sales | Marché du Film Line-Up Highlights

DORINA MARTINOVICS

Z S O LT A N G E R

DÉNES SZÁRAZ

Kills on Wheels action comedy, 2016, 105 min What's the perfect alibi for a professional contract killer?

To be handicapped and bound to a wheelchair...

Kills on Wheels is the story about a crippled young man fueling his life by joining a gang of hitmen in wheelchairs working for the mafia. Kill by kill this action comedy challenges the border between reality and imagination in a boy's search for friendship, for his roots and for meaning in life.

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MADARÁSZ ISTI CAMERAMAN ANDRÁS NAGY MUSIC BY LUCIO GODOY & ADRIÁN FOULKES PRODUCTION DESIGNER BALÁZS HUJBER EDITED BY ZOLTÁN KOVÁCS SOUND BY GÁBOR BALÁZS PRODUCER TAMÁS HUTLASSA THE FILM HAS BEEN MADE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL FILM FUND. PRODUCED BY CAFÉ FILM 2016 © HUROK FILM

Loop suspense/thriller, 2016, 95 min A time-twist thriller, where the ideas of beginning and ending very quickly merge. Adam loses his pregnant girlfriend in an accident but is soon presented with a series of chances to correct his previous mistakes that led to her death. But a new opportunity does not mean a clean slate so he is forced to face the complicated repercussions of his earlier decisions while trying to keep his girlfriend alive.

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HNFF World Sales | Marché du Film Line-Up Highlights

Home Guards crime/drama, 2015, 115 min

Weekend thriller, 2015, 96 min

The Wednesday Child drama/coming of age, 2015, 94 min

Think of Me dramedy, 2016, 103 min

Mom and Other Loonies in the Family family saga, 2015, 113 min

The Noise of Licking animated short, 2015, 9 min 19 May 11am.

Théâtre Buñuel PREMIERE

MEET US IN CANNES Riviera E16

HNFF World Sales | klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu | phone: +36 30 936 33 89 | hnffworldsales.com

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MEET US IN CANNES

Hungarian Pavilion / International Village Riviera #137 Phone: +33 (0) 493 99 87 78 Ágnes Havas (CEO) havas.agnes@filmalap.hu Csaba Bereczki (International Director and Eurimages Representative) bereczki.csaba@filmalap.hu Márta Bényei (Festival Manager) marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Csaba Papp (PR Manager) papp.csaba@filmalap.hu

HNFF World Sales Booth / Riviera E16 Klaudia Androsovits (Sales Manager) klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Published by

Hungarian National Film Fund (MNF)

Editors-in-chief:

Dániel Deák, Gábor Osváth

Project coordinator:

Ildikó Ságodi

Editor:

Zsuzsanna Deák

Contributors:

Anita Libor, Zsuzsanna Borbély, Bori Bujdosó, Anna Németh, Nóra Kinga Forgács, András Oláh

Original Art Concept: Tünde Kálmán Art director:

Zoltán Bukovics

Photographer:

Gábor Valuska

Proofreader:

Laura Brown

Hungarian Film Magazine is published by Hungarian National Film Fund. Published in Hungary May 2016. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is forbidden save with the written permission of the publishers.

On the cover: The Noise of Licking by Nadja Andrasev www.issuu.com/hungarianfilm www.filmfund.hu www.filmunio.eu www.facebook.com/hungarianfilmmagazine

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H-1142 Budapest Szőnyi út 30-34.

SOS: +36 30 954 7747 Tel.: +36 1 422 0787 Fax.: +36 1 422 0788 Email: sparks@mail.datanet.hu www.sparks.hu Agency for Panavision

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