Hungarian Film – Cannes 2017 by Hungarian Film Magazine

Hungarian Film Magazine THE 2017 CANNES ISSUE

A New Planet in the Mundruczó Universe

'Jupiter's Moon' in Official Competition in Cannes

Past, Present and Future of Hungarian Cinema in Cannes 'Merry-Go-Round' (Cannes Classics), 'Out' (Un Certain Regard), 'Invisibly' (Cinéfondation)

Frequent Flyers Club Stars most likely to come to Budapest – and much more about service productions

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Hungarian Film Magazine All you Need to Know about Hungarian Cinema

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Cooperation Makes it Easier In co-productions, the creative talent and technical expertise of different countries are combined and more financial resources become available. If the character of a story calls for producers, actors, composers or designers from another country, films can and are made under a co-production. Organic co-productions are made between producers of countries that share a common past, which is why neighbouring countries in Europe are natural partners. Cultural cooperation makes it easier, while understanding the characteristics of the funding system of another country is a constant learning process for all those involved. The beauty of co-producing a film is best perceived when the members of an international crew stand side by side on the stage at a prestigious film festival; awards make everybody proud and happy. Internationally acclaimed Hungarian film directors and producers find their co-production partners both in Europe and in other countries, and upcoming young talents simultaneously benefit from making films within the framework of an international cooperation. European and international partners, thank you for joining the production of new Hungarian films! We are glad to be co-production partners in great European projects. On 1 January this year, the Hungarian National Film Archive became a division of the Hungarian National Film Fund. This merging represents a chance for efficient collaboration as well, whereby our mutual project will restore 15 films this year in cooperation with our Hungarian Filmlab division – for example the oeuvre of Zoltán Fábri, whose 100th birthday would be celebrated this year. Fabri’s masterpiece ‘Merry-Go-Round’ has been selected for Cannes Classics, meaning that the film will be returning to the festival after 61 years. The National Film Archive has more than 70 000 films in its collection; our aim is not just to preserve these treasures, but we would also like them to find their way back to the audience, with up-to-date distribution models and cool promotion gimmicks. We would like to cooperate with national as well as international audiences in order to present their old-time favourites in cinemas and at festivals. Spring welcomed the biggest Hungarian blockbuster of the last 10 years: ‘Kincsem’, a film about the most successful Hungarian race horse and its rebellious owner, has had more than 350 000 admissions in Hungary - and still counting. We also attribute this to successful cooperation: on the one hand with the film’s creators and on the other with its audience. We organised several test screenings before the film was finalised, as we do with many other films. The success of ‘Kincsem’ is also a great outcome of our new support system for distributors, which fosters Hungarian films being seen as well as properly advertised and communicated. The cooperation of producers, distributors and colleagues from the National Film Fund is effective and successful. Cooperation makes it easier and better. Allow me to proudly congratulate the Hungarian directors and producers who have achieved such wonderful results at international film festivals and in cinemas in both Hungary and abroad. It is an honour to be able to cooperate with you! János, László, Ildikó, Mónika, András, Kristóf, Kornél, Viki, Károly, the Gábors and all the other talented Hungarian filmmakers, keep up the great work! Ágnes Havas CEO, Hungarian National Film Fund

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Content

Agi bekoszonto

Opening Words from the CEO of the Hungarian National Film Fund

6 News

8 The Hungarian Film Community 12 Debuts and a Long-awaited Trequel

What the Hungarian National Film Fund will be supporting this year

14 The Biggest Year for the Hungarian Film Industry

2016 by Numbers

16 Hungarian Film Week

'Strangled' wins 9 awards

20 The Birthplace of Hungarian Cinema

Mafilm 100

Successful Hungarian Projects

in the Creative Europe Media in 2016

24 Directioral Debuts of the Young Hungarians are Now Underway 26 Frequent Flyers to Budapest 28 Peak Years in Service 30 Back in the graces of the audience

32 From Cannes to Cannes 34 Cannes, where films are truly born KornĂŠl MundruczĂł in Cannes

36 The editor behind Kornél Mundruczó’s film Interview with Dávid Jancsó 38 Capturing inner emotions in the dark

Interview with Áron Szentpéteri

40 Beyond borders Hungarian participation in international co-productions 42 François Truffaut’s ‘Grand Prix’ Winner Zoltán Fábri’s ‘Merry-Go-Round’ in the Cannes Classics 44 The Girl on the 'Merry-Go-Round' Mari Törőcsik, Actress 45 60 years in motion Q&A with György Ráduly, the director of Hungarian National Film Archive

46 Coming Soon

Upcoming films: various genres and authors, long-awaited first features and comebacks

54 New Films from Hungary

The latest titles in every genre with cast, crew and contact details

Feature Film

Feature Documentary

TV Drama

TV Documentary

Educational Documentary

Short Documentary

Short Film

Short Animation

Short Animation Series

80 HNFF World Sales - EFM Line-Up Highlights

News ‘Sunset’ Finds a Lead After a lengthy search, László Nemes has found his lead actress for ‘Sunset’, a followup to his Academy Awardwinning film ‘Son of Saul’. Juli Jakab will play the character of Írisz Leiter. According to the official synopsis of the movie set in 1913, Írisz, who was raised in an orphanage, arrives in Budapest in the hope of working in the ladies’ hat store that once belonged to her late parents and is now run by their former associate; but he refuses to give her a job. Through a stranger Írisz discovers that

Jamie Foxx was Everywhere Unlike most actors who visit Budapest, Academy Awardwinning Jamie Foxx was very visible, popping up in the most unlikely places. In town for a few months to film ‘Robin Hood’ in which he plays Little John, Foxx not only constantly posted his whereabouts in Budapest on social media and took selfies with everyone who asked, but he also visited a radio show, gracefully wore the Hungarian national team’s soccer jersey, broadcasted a

Juli Jakab in 'Sunset'

she has a brother, whose very existence was concealed from her. On her search for him she discovers dark secrets and gets caught up in the confusion of a civilisation that is on the brink of collapse. Juli Jakab graduated as a screenwriter from the University of Theatre and Film Arts of Budapest but has been suicide attempt in downtown Budapest and DJ-d for 25 minutes at a club with his costar Taron Egerton. And, just before leaving, he composed a song for Budapest that was posted on Facebook by the gym he frequented, to the joy of his Hungarian fans. Foxx was not the only actor who tried to make the most of being in the country, as ‘Blade Runner 2049’ star Harrison Ford went on multiple bicycle tours in the countryside, to the surprise of many unsuspecting Hungarians who he encountered along the way. Jamie Foxx with Balázs Dzsudzsák Hungarian football player / Instagram

acting since her school years. She played an important role in Gábor Reisz’s ‘For Some Inexplicable Reason’ and was also a minor character in László Nemes’ ‘Son of Saul’. Once again produced by Laokoon Filmgroups’s Gábor Sipos and Gábor Rajna, ‘Sunset’ will start principal photography in June.

'Sing'

‘Sing’ Wins Oscar! A year after László Nemes’ Oscar for ‘Son of Saul’, Kristóf Deák’s short film ‘Sing’ won the Academy Award for Best LiveAction Short. This is the first time a Hungarian live-action short film has won the Academy Award. Previously, Ferenc Rofusz’ 3-minute short ‘The Fly’ won in the category of Best Animated Short in 1981, and a year later István Szabó’s ‘Mephisto’ won the award for Best Foreign Language Film. We waited more than three decades, but last year’s win for ‘Son of Saul’ and now ‘Sing’’s triumph feel like a glorious return. Check out our Berlinale edition online for more on ‘Sing’, or turn to pages 28-29 to read on the recent success Hungarian cinema has had.

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News Hungarian Success at the Visegrad Animation Forum Regular visitors at the Visegrad Animation Forum in Trebon in the Czech Republic could expect a high attendance of Hungarian animation filmmakers this year. The pitching competition had a total of four competing Hungarian projects: Dániel Bárány’s ‘Supper’ and Nadja Andrasev’s ‘Symbiosis’ among the short films, while Bálint Gelley’s ‘Door to Othertown’ and Péter Szeiler’s ‘Castaways’

were among the series and specials. ‘Castaways’, which is produced by Filmfabriq and is already in production for its first season of 13 episodes, ended up winning the main prize in the TV series category. The series tells the story of Kolos, a young boy who is shipwrecked on a deserted island with his grandpa and must work out the new environment in order to survive. The project is now qualified to pitch at the Cartoon Forum this September.

A Spring for Film Festivals The Hungarian Film Week (more on pages 16-18) was not the only reason to celebrate and watch movies in Hungary these past months. The biggest Hungarian festival for short films, Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival, was held for the fifth time this year. The Toldi cinema was yet again repeatedly fully packed, as Friss Hús again offered the premiere screenings for most of the Hungarian titles in competition. This year, 36 Hungarian and 18 international short films competed for the various prizes. The main ones went to students of the University of Theatre and Film Arts of Budapest, as ‘Earthly People’ by Ádám Freund was selected as Best Hungarian LiveFriss Hús winners Bálint Barcsai, Ádám Freund and Ambrus Fatér

Hungarian Film Week

Action Short and ‘Assaut’ by Tamás Fekete won the OTP Junior Award for Most Promising New Talent. Luca Tóth’s ‘Superbia’ was elected Best Hungarian Animation Short, while the international competition’s main prize went to the Norwegian short film ‘Glass House’. A few days later, the 24th Titanic International Film Festival took place. Organised between 6-13 April, the biggest international film festival for feature films in

Budapest showed 34 films from 27 nations divided into six sections – In Competition, Festival Favourites, Asian Winds, The Dark Side, American Independents and Titanic Dox. The SwedishNorwegian-Danish coproduction, ‘Sámi Blood’, ended up winning the main prize, the Breaking Waves Award. The jury included the French film critic Frédéric Strauss, the writer György Dragomán and the Golden Bear-winning film director Ildikó Enyedi. Just before Cannes, between 10-13 May, the city of Szeged held its first Vilmos Zsigmond Film Festival. Named after the Academy Award-winning Hungarian cinematographer who was born in Szeged and passed away last year, the festival screened 33 films in five different categories, with a focus on cinematography.

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The

Hungarian Film Community The Hungarian film industry is soaring: the first quarter of 2017 brought a Golden Bear, an Oscar and record-breaking domestic admissions for Hungarian films, while the country is still one of the favourite locations of service productions.

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 COUNCILâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HUNGARIAN MEDIA PATRONAGE PROGRAMME

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 on board. 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

What the Hungarian National Film Fund will be supporting this year 2016 was a record-breaking year, not only for the Hungarian film industry (see for yourself on the following pages!), but also for the Hungarian National Film Fund (HNFF): a total of 25.7 million EUR in production grants was given to 19 projects. We already have several more projects to add to the list this year: ‘Open’, the debut feature by Orsi Nagypál, received ~100 000 EUR, while the long-awaited ‘A Kind of America 3’, the trequel to the box office hits of 2002 and 2008, received 1.54 million EUR. Gábor Herendi, the helmer of the recent horse-racing hit ‘Kincsem’ will be its director once again. A minority co-production also received funding in April: the new movie ‘Eter’ by the prolific helmer, Krzysztof Zanussi, is a Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian-Hungarian coproduction that received 188 000 EUR. The Hungarian co-producers are Judit Stalter, Gábor 'A Kind of America 2'

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Lili Horvath photo by Bea Kallos/MTI

Debuts and a long-awaited trequel Sipos and Gábor Rajna of Laokoon Filmgroup. There is more on minority co-productions on pages 38-39! This year, a project development grant has been given to one project so far, which is Márk Bodzsár’s latest, ‘Comrade Drakulics’. This will be his second movie after having directed ‘Heavenly Shift’, one of the first films to be financed by the HNFF.

Script development grants were presented to a total of 49 projects last year, and we can now add a few more names to the list. Lili Horváth, the director behind ‘The Wednesday Child’, is currently working on her second feature with the support of the HNFF, while newcomers Ákos Badits, Sándor Csoma and Szilárd Bernáth are writing their debut movies. Another interesting project is an adaptation of ‘Move Over Mrs. Markham’ from the popular stage writer Ray Cooney. The latter not only has a constant presence on Hungarian stages, but the biggest Hungarian box office hit of the 1990s, ‘Out of Order’ ('A miniszter félrelép'), was also adapted from one of his plays. This time the comedy will be penned by Gábor Olivér Búss and Iván Kapitány, the writers behind the popular ‘Glass Tiger’ franchise. A number of other grants were also awarded to a wide range of projects. Numerous film festivals (including the Mediawave International Film and Music Gathering, the Kecskemét Animation Film Festival, the Friss Hús Budapest Shortfilm Festival, etc.) were given support, as was the annual Hungarian Film Week. The HNFF also promoted the successful Oscar campaign of the short film ‘Sing’, including the presence of its filmmakers in Los Angeles.

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

187 500

* Max. 1.25x of the Hungarian spend

More info: www.filmfund.hu HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

‘Blade Runner 2049’

The Biggest Year for the Hungarian Film Industry 2016 by Numbers The National Media and Infocommunications Authority of Hungary (NMHH) has released its annual report, so it is now safe to say what we predicted in our previous issues: that 2016 would be the biggest year ever for the Hungarian film industry. The considerable improvement is thanks to the several service productions that continue to come to Hungary. However, there is one project in particular that is responsible for almost one quarter of all the spending: ‘Blade Runner 2049’, starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. The highly anticipated sequel spent an estimated 91 million EUR (or 100 million USD), making it the biggest production to ever come to Hungary. The second biggest spender was the NBC TV series ‘Emerald City’, which spent around 40 million EUR.

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In 2016, film spending in Hungary amounted to a total of 402 million EUR, which is a 75% increase compared to 2015, as can be seen in the chart below. The film industry’s performance in Hungary 402 m EUR 400 000 350 000 300 000 230 m EUR

250 000

180 m EUR 200 000 173 m EUR 150 000 100 000 50 000 2013

2014

2015

2016

Hungarian films and co-productions also had a busy year. The total number of productions registered by the Film Office grew significantly, from 239 in 2015 to 299 in 2016. While the number of service productions remained the same, Hungarian projects showed a noteworthy increase, from 180 to 243. This data includes all kinds of productions, from feature films to the Academy Award-winning short film ‘Sing’.

‘Kincsem - Bet on Revenge’

What are Hungarians watching? The annual list of admission numbers was also published. It includes ticket sales for 2016 only, so does not do justice to movies released in December. However, the dominance of American movies is quite evident, as can be seen below.

But fear not! 2015 saw local Oscar-winning ‘Son of Saul’ climb high on the charts, and even though it is still early for 2017, we can be sure that ‘Kincsem’ (now closing in on 400 000 admissions!) will be up there on next year’s list too.

Most popular theatrical releases in Hungary in 2016

The Secret Life of Pets

653 788

Rogue One: a Star Wars Story

545 910

Deadpool

430 926

Star Wars: the Force Awakens (released in 2015)

361 112

Dirty Grandpa

351 555

Zootopia

341 509

Bridget Jones’s Baby

335 488

Ice Age: Collision Course Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Captain America: Civil War

332 199 286 738 285 867

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Hungarian Film Week: 'Strangled' Wins 9 Awards The third Hungarian Film Week, which is to celebrate Hungarian films, was held between 27 February and 5 March. The members of the Hungarian Film Academy handed out awards for the second time and voted in 23 categories. 'Strangled' by Arpád Sopsits received nine awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director and Best Cinematographer (Gábor Szabó), and 'Kills on Wheels' by Attila Till earned five prizes, including Best Screenplay (Attila Till) and Best Supporting Actor (Adám Fekete). The award ceremony took place on 5 March at the Vígszínház in Budapest.

Best Feature Film 'Strangled' (producer: Gábor Ferenczy, Attila Tőzsér by Árpád Sopsits Best Director / Feature Film Category Árpád Sopsits for 'Strangled' Best Cinematographer / Feature Film Category Gábor Szabó for 'Strangled' Best Screenplay / Feature Film Category Attila Till for 'Kills on Wheels'

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Zsófia Szamosi

Best Actress / Feature Film Category Zsófia Szamosi for 'Strangled' Best Actor / Feature Film Category Szabolcs Thuróczyfor 'Kills on Wheels' Best Supporting Actress / Feature Film Category Eszter Ónodi for 'Just Drop Dead' Best Supporting Actor / Feature Film Category Ádám Fekete for 'Kills on Wheels' Best Editor / Feature Film Category Zoltán Kovács for 'Strangled' and 'Loop' Best Music / Feature Film Category Márk Moldvai for 'Strangled'

Producers Attila Tőzsér and Gábor Ferenczy and director Attila Till - 'Strangled'

Ádám Fekete

Best Mask / Feature Film Category Ancsa Kriskó for 'Strangled' Best Make-Up / Feature Film Category Szandra Gerő for 'Kills on Wheels' Best Costumes / Feature Film Category Györgyi Szakács for 'Strangled'

Tamás Zányi

Best Visual Design / Feature Film Category Rita Dévényi and Árpád Sopsits for 'Strangled' Best Sound / Feature Film Category Tamás Zányi for 'The Carer' and 'Kills on Wheels' Best Documentary 'Soul Exodus' by Csaba Bereczki

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Manó Csillag, editor of 'Sing' with actress Dorka Gáspárfalvy

Réka Bucsi

Best Short Film 'Sing' by Kristóf Deák Best Animation Film 'Love' by Réka Bucsi Best Television Film István Kovács for 'The Grey War' Best Screenplay / Television Category Iván Tasnádi for 'Memo' Best Director / Television Category István Kovács for 'The Grey War' Best Actor / Television Category József Kovács for 'The Grey War' Best Actress / Television Category Vica Kerekes for 'Transit Time'

István Kovács

Audience Award '#atfirstsight' by Daniel Tiszeker

#atfirstsight crew

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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

The Birthplace of Hungarian Cinema The oldest Hungarian film studio celebrates its 100th birthday. Masterpieces like one of this year’s Cannes Classics ‘Merry-GoRound’, Oscar-winning ‘Mephisto’ and former Cannes Classics like ‘The Round-Up’ by Miklós Jancsó and ‘Love’ by Károly Makk were all made there. These movies, as well as countless other Hungarian classics, were all produced by Mafilm, the studio that celebrates its 100th birthday this year. Several generations have grown up watching these motion pictures, from historical period dramas through to family comedies, all of which have rendered Mafilm a cornerstone of Hungarian film culture. The most influential Hungarian directors, such as Mihály Kertész, János Badal, Vilmos Zsigmond, Zoltán Huszárik, Félix Máriássy, Frigyes Bán, Márton Keleti, István Szabó, Károly Makk, Miklós Jancsó, Márta Daughters' fair

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Mészáros and Zoltán Fábri, launched their career at Mafilm studios. The story of the legendary studio began in October 1917, when Sándor Korda - later to be known as Sir Alexander Korda - and his partners founded the Corvin film studio in Zugló, Budapest, where it is still located today. Even if the way we measure production is now different, we can still proudly recognise that Corvin studios was founded only a few years after legendary Hollywood studios like Warner, Paramount, Fox and Universal, and several years before other famous American studios including Columbia and Disney. However, Hungarians have another reason to be proud, namely of the Paramount and Fox studios, as their founders, Adolph Zukor (Adolf Zukor) and William Fox (Vilmos Fried), respectively, were Hungarians. Within the perspective of the history of European cinema, Corvin studios can be considered to be a principal pioneer alongside a few other studios like UFA (Babelsberg, which also turns 100 this year), Gaumont (1895), Pinewood (1935) and Cinecitta (1937). From the beginning of the 1940s, the studio (then under the name of Hunnia) became the third largest film studio in Europe with regard to the number of movies being produced. Retrospectively speaking, it is impressive that over 500 cinemas operated in Hungary in the thirties, a great deal more than nowadays. The first big turning point in the history of the film company was undoubtedly when it started to make sound films in 1931. The unequivocal highlight of the whole pre-war era was definitely that year’s 'Hyppolit, the Butler' which was the country’s second “talkie”. To be honest, though, it is not easy to name any outstanding pieces, despite the amount of motion pictures of that time. The era’s popular movies were typically light comedies with first-rate masters And Then The Guy

The Golden Head

Zoltán Kárpáthy

of entertainment like Gyula Kabos, Pál Jávor and Kálmán Latabár. On the other hand, the studio was a pioneer in many ways, for example by using new technologies such as cranes for camera motion or background projection never before seen in Europe. Nevertheless, the years following World War II were not unchallenging for the Hungarian film industry, as it was a while before films could be produced again. However, production saw a rebound thanks to advances in technology, such as better quality of sound recording (Tobis-Klang sound recording system) and later the introduction of colour film, all of which rendered movies more modern and appealing. With the beginning of the socialist decades, the film industry went in different directions. Movies started - or rather were forced - to focus on class struggle and to praise the working class and peasant life. Apart from socialist propaganda, a new generation of talented directors and actors also appeared and brought new perspectives, genres and forms with them. The golden age started in the sixties, when Mafilm produced more than twenty movies each year. Remarkable directors of the era, like Miklós Jancsó, Zoltán Fábri, Károly Makk and István Szabó, made the most influential and sensual movies of the decade, which would eventually define Hungarian cinema. Instead of schematic stories, the new generation of filmmakers started creating films with a critical voice, regularly focusing on historical parabolas, the processing of Hungary’s past or the clash of generations. Their filming was largely influenced by modernism, especially by French cinema, but there was also an interaction with filmmakers from Poland (Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda) and the Czech Republic (Miloš Forman and Jiří Menzel). Production service works for Mafilm started coming in at this time. Woody Allen shot 'Love and Death' in the studio as well as 'Escape to Victory', for example, and David Cronenberg made 'M Butterfly' there as well. The legendary workshop of new-generation directors, known as the Balázs Béla Studio, was founded and became the primary workshop for avant-garde and experimental filming.

Semmelweis

Treasured Earth

Due to the economic situation of the eighties, the number of movies that were being produced decreased, but great pieces like 'The Midas Touch' or 'Little Valentino' were born, as well as István Szabó’s Oscar-winning Mephisto. After the political change of the 1990s, Mafilm went through a lot of organisational and economic changes. The amount of Hungarian productions decreased, whilst foreign co-production increased. In the Mafilm studios, blockbusters such as 'Munich', 'I Spy', 'Spy Game', 'Bel Ami', 'The Dept', 'Die Hard' and 'Hellboy', were shot and stars like Jeremy Irons, John Cusack, Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis, among many others, appeared in them. In 2013, Mafilm became part of the Hungarian National Film Fund. The company also tries to keep up with the latest innovations in technology and to be part of the international competition between studios. With this in mind and with other reshapings, it recently renovated its downtown 3-4 studios (built in 1936), where many Hungarian classics were shot in the last eighty years. I think we have every right to be proud of this unique place and phenomenon that has produced so many of the greatest pieces of Hungarian and European cinema over the last century. It is important for today’s generation to know about our culture’s valuable products, many of which have been made between the walls of these studios. Without that unique infrastucture the filmstudio of Mafilm, the Hungarian film industry would not be conceivable, and we hope that it continues to live on. Bence Illyés

re he ew om 'S

rip st m l ' fi pe ro u E

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'Toni Erdmann'

Successful Hungarian Projects in 2016 In the first quarter of 2016, results were published for the Single Project Call 18/2015, whose first deadline was 19 October 2015. Out of 11 Hungarian applicants, four were eventually awarded the requested grant for their documentary projects. This meant that the selection rate amounted to 36%. Riotfilm (‘Songs of the Land’), Filmpartners (‘Nine Months War’), Cinema-film (‘The Ballad of the Transylvanian Highlander Shepherd Dog’) and Campfilm (‘Endless Shadow’) received funding that amounted to 25 000 EUR each.

1 650 936 EUR 22

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

MEDIA support for Hungarian projects 2016

According to the results from the second deadline of 21 April 2016, out of the two animation project applications, ‘Solo Lobo’ by Umatic received a grant of the sum of 60 000 EUR. The only documentary project to apply, Miradouro’s ‘Hungary 2018’ also received support, this time worth 25 000 EUR. Eight Hungarian feature film projects applied, out pf which ’Sunset’, the new film by László Nemes, was selected. For this project, a grant with the total value of 50 000 EUR was awarded to Laokoon Filmgroup. Overall, of the 11 applying projects, three received a total of 135 000 EUR, with a selection rate of 27%. Within the framework of the Festival Call 16/2015, whose first deadline was 17 December 2015, AllDox Kft. received funding for the first time at a value of 35 000 EUR for its project Budapest International Documentary Festival (BIDF). Three companies applied for the first call, making the selection rate 33%. For the second deadline of 28 April 2017, Szimplafilm’s project Anilogue International Animation Festival was selected from the two Hungarian companies applying for funding. Therefore, in this case, the share of the selected Hungarian projects was 50%. The first deadline results of 1 December 2015 for Selective Distribution Call 13/2015 saw five Hungarian distributors (ADS Service, Cirko Film, MTVA, Mozinet and Vertigo Media) be selected to fund the distribution of 10 European films, amounting to 95 200 EUR. The distributors received financial support for the following films: ‘The Girl King’, ‘Tout en haut du monde’, ‘Ma Ma’, ‘Mustang’, ‘A Perfect Day’, ‘Min Lilla Syster’, ‘Phantom Boy’, ‘Krigen’, ‘Francofonia’ and ‘Flaskepost Fra P’. There was a total of 23 Hungarian projects that applied for funding, so the selection rate came to 43%. As for the second deadline of 14 July 2016, four distributors (Cirko Film, Mozinet, Vertigo Media and ADS Service) were eligible for 154 400 EUR in total. Eleven applications were selected out of the 25, meaning a selection rate of 44%. The distribution of the following films were supported: ‘Siv Sover Vilse’, ‘Fai Bei Sogni’, ‘Les Innocentes’, ‘Toni Erdmann’, ‘Ma Loute’, ‘Bacalaureat (aka Fotografii de

Familie)’, ‘Fuocoammare’, ‘I, Daniel Blake’, ‘La Fille Inconnue’, ‘La Pazza Gioia’ and ‘Zjednoczone Stany Milosci’. In the Automatic Distribution Call 09/2016, with the deadline 29 April 2016, 10 of 11 applying Hungarian distributors received support, which is a high 91% selection rate. The support amounted to 754 180 EUR, which was assigned to the following companies: A Company Hungary, ADS Service, Big Bang Media, Cinefil Co, Cinetel, Cirko Film, Freeman Entertainment, MTVA, Mozinet and Vertigo Media. As the only Hungarian applicant, Daazo was granted 40 000 EUR within the framework of the Online Distribution Call 25/2014 for operating and developing the project Daazo.com – The European Short Film Centre. The Development of Video Games Call 20/2015 (3 March 2016) ended up choosing the project The 'Missing 99' by Possible Zrt. The company received 125 000 EUR in MEDIA support. The success rate was 25%, as the project was selected out of four applications. The Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME) is a co-organiser of the project Visegrad Animation Forum, which was selected to receive funding in the Market Access Call 15/2015. Besides the coordinator, Asociace animovaného filmu (ASAF), organisations like Animation Producers Association (SPPA), Association of Animated Film Producers Slovakia (APAF) and The Slovenian Animated Film Association (DSAF) also take part in the project, which has received funding worth 52 000 EUR. Out of 99 applications, 58 were successful, so that is a selection rate of 59%. Insofar as co-organiser, MOME also took part in a successfully applying project of the Training Call 06/2016 in cooperation with the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de région Paris Ile-de-France. The coordinator of the

'Julieta'

1 625 267 1 650 936 EUR EUR

1 600 000 1 400 000 1 200 000

1 243 139 EUR

1 000 000 800 000 600 000 400 000 200 000 2014

2015

2016

MEDIA support for Hungarian projects 2014–2016

1 800 000

project is the VIA University College (Denmark). Animation Sans Frontières, the European Animation Development Lab, has received an amount equalling 135 156 EUR. In this scheme, 87 projects were submitted and 51 were selected for MEDIA support, which means that the share of the selected projects is 59%. Sixteen Hungarian members are still involved in Europa Cinemas, the MEDIA-supported cinema network. As for Budapest-based arthouse cinemas, Cirko-Gejzír, Művész, Puskin, Tabán, Toldi, Uránia and Vörösmarty are going to receive funding, while Uránia in Miskolc, Krúdy Gyula Art in Nyíregyháza, Apollo Arthouse in Pécs, Belvárosi in Szeged, Tisza in Szolnok and Savaria in Szombathely will be supported by the MEDIA subprogramme through the Europa Cinemas network. In 2016, Hungarian applicants received 1 650 936 EUR in total, of which 60 000 EUR was awarded to festivals, 236 000 EUR to development, 249 600 EUR to selective distribution, 754 180 EUR to automatic distribution, 40 000 EUR to online distribution, 125 000 EUR to the development of video games, 135 156 EUR to training and 52 000 EUR to market access. Ádám Paszternák, Fanni Stork Creative Europe Office, Hungary 'Ma Vie De Courgette'

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Directorial Debuts

of Young Hungarians Are Now Underway In 2015, the Hungarian National Film Fund (HNFF) announced its first Incubator Programme, which would give young and innovative filmmakers a chance to make their directorial debut as a low-budget feature film, with a choice between animation, fiction and documentary. The other purpose of the programme is for participants to get to know the HNFF system in order to know how to prepare more successful applications in the future. Besides financial support, the fund provides continuous professional and practical assistance like legal aid, help in tenders, ongoing consultations and professional mentoring. The pitch forum of the first Incubator Programme included 12 projects, from which the professional jury – Ildikó Enyedi, Yvonne Kerékgyártó, Ágnes Pataki, Viktória Petrányi and Ferenc Pusztai – and almost 200 film professionals voted for five to be put into production after their script development.

'Blossom Valley' photo by Soraya Hegyesi

'One Day' photo by Gergő Skublics

Seventh Halberdier’ (A hetedik alabárdos) by Csaba Vékes, while Dorottya Zurbó’s documentary ‘Six Easy Lessons’ (Hat könnyű lecke) and Sarolta Szabó’s and Tibor Bánóczki’s animation ‘White Plastic Sky’ (Műanyag égbolt) received the audience’s vote. The HNFF picked ‘Sister Gemma’ (Gemma nővér) by Petra Szőcs for script development, while Zsófia Zsemberi won a place in the FAMU’s Midpoint international screenwriting workshop with her project ‘Pinkler’. ‘One Day’, written and directed by Zsófia Szilágyi, began shooting in spring and stars Zsófia Szamosi, the lead actress in the recent Oscarwinning ‘Sing’. The film is a hyper-realistic attempt to present the life of a woman going through issues that films usually tend to avoid so as not to bore the audience. Anna, an Italian teacher in her 40s, lives a family life like any other, including financial difficulties, tutorial classes and the problem of cheating. The movie follows her around one day and the drama unfolds as her usual daily routines are presented.

Each project received 6 500 EUR for script development; moreover, for production, animations were awarded 265 000 EUR, fiction features were presented with 200 000 EUR and documentaries were given 70 000 EUR. Creators are also required to undertake continuous consultation with the HNFF during the production process. The first Incubator Programme saw the following projects given the chance to become a film: ‘One Day’ (Egy nap) by Zsófia Szilágyi, ‘Blossom Valley’ (Virágvölgy) by László Csuja and ‘The 24

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Winners of the 2015 Incubator Programme ‘One Day’ by Zsófia Szilágyi in post-production ‘Blossom Valley’ by László Csuja in pre-production ‘The Seventh Halberdier’ by Csaba Vékes completed ‘Six Easy Lessons’ by Dorottya Zurbó (documentary) | in production ‘White Plastic Sky’ by Sarolta Szabó and Tibor Bánóczki (animation) - in production

The idea of László Csuja’s drama was born eight years ago, when a picture of a running girl with a baby popped into his mind. ‘Blossom Valley’ tells the story of a young girl, Bianka, who steals a baby before beginning her search for a husband and a home. For her, it is merely an exciting role play, but for her new partner, the mentally disabled Laci, it is a serious situation that he will try to solve at all costs. Shooting starts this month with non-professional actors, using the space and lighting conditions of original filming locations to make a socio-realistic movie with genre references. ‘The Seventh Halberdier’ by Csaba Vékes and Balázs Dudás was shot in August last year and is currently in its final phase of post-production. Inspired by Vékes’ own 13 years of work in theatre, the film examines the career of an unsuccessful actor who, due to the memory loss of the theatre director, is suddenly made the leading stage director, where he struggles to fulfil his dreams. Set in the world of modern theatrical life, ‘The Seventh Halberdier’ has a certain sense of the surreal due to its very nature as a satire. Dorottya Zurbó’s documentary, ‘Six Easy Lessons’, presents the everyday struggle of a young Somali refugee girl in Hungary. The idea came three years ago, when Zurbó studied documentary filmmaking in Brussels and wanted to shoot her graduation film about child refugees who travel alone without any parental support. Shooting began a year ago to follow Kafia’s everyday life, showing that true integration is a terribly difficult internal wrangle with cultural differences and involves complete self-indulgence. The film tries to present this psychological journey in a sensitive way. ‘White Plastic Sky’ is an anti-utopistic sci-fi animation directed by Sarolta Szabó and Tibor Bánóczki. The movie takes place in an isolated Budapest in the year 2200, by which time flora and fauna have become completely extinct. Before the total disaster, scientists develop a special plant with extremely nutritious leaves that is only able to grow on living human flesh.

Winners of the 2016 Incubator Programme ‘Impromptu’ by Zoltán Nagy filming in 2018 ‘No One’s Going Anywhere’ by Attila Hartung filming in 2017 ‘Guerilla’ by György Mór Kárpáti filming in 2017 ‘A Boy’ by Alexa Bakony (documentary) | filming in 2017-2018 ‘Tales from the Cell’ by Ábel Visky (documentary) | filming in 2017-2018

'The Seventh Halberdier'

The population is divided into two: those who eat and those who feed; and every citizen gets the seed implanted on their 50th birthday. Stefan, a young psychiatrist, supports this system and strongly believes that this is the only way humanity can survive, until his wife Nora signs up for volunteer implantation. Production is in its initial stages and work is currently being done on the animatic, while character and concept designs are in the making. Casting is soon to come to an end and co-production partners will hopefully get involved as well.

'White Plastic Sky'

Zsófia Zsemberi participated in the FAMU’s Midpoint international screenwriting workshop with her project, ‘Pinkler’, which is based on the book ‘Artist’ by Kriszta Bódis. She said that the workshop offered an entirely different perspective thanks to the programme’s participants originating from different cultures and backgrounds. The project attended the Cottbus co-production market and then was invited to Trieste for a development possibility. Zsemberi will now apply to the HNFF for production support; in the meantime, she and her team have already started searching for locations and actors. Zsófi Herczeg

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Frequent Flyers to Budapest There are stars who come to Hungary to film not once, but twice – and then there are others who just keep coming back! The recent Hollywood thriller ‘Red Sparrow’ reunited some frequent flyers to the Hungarian capital, and we can only wonder what tips and anecdotes they shared with each other or with Budapest newcomer, Jennifer Lawrence. We did a little digging to see which actors are the most frequent flyers to Budapest, and we can conclude that Jeremy Irons should be crowned the winner of our imaginary contest. Even though both he and Ciarán Hinds each have five titles shot in Hungary, Mr. Irons’

lead is somewhat more notable if we consider that he shot three seasons for the series ‘The Borgias’, each time spending almost half a year in Hungary. Other notable ‘locals’ are British thesps Jonathan Pryce, Natascha McElhone and Mark Strong, who have accumulated four credits each over the span of three decades. There is also the busy newcomer in town, 30-year-old Oliver Jackson-Cohen who – with three TV series and one feature film – has probably spent more time in Hungary than in London over the past six years.

THE FIVE-TIMERS CLUB

Jeremy Irons, Holiday Grainger, Francois Arnaud

Ciarán Hinds and Helen Mirren

Jeremy Irons

Ciarán Hinds

Red Sparrow (2018)

The Borgias (2011-2013)

The Terror (2017)

Eragon (2006)

The Rite (2011)

Being Julia (2004)

The Debt (2010)

M. Butterfly (1993)

Munich (2005)

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THE FOUR-TIMERS CLUB

Jonathan Pryce

Oliver Jackson-Cohen

The White King (2016)

Emerald City (2017)

Dough (2015)

Dracula (2013)

The Moon and the Stars (2005)

World Without End (2012)

Evita (1996)

The Raven (2012)

Natascha McElhone

Thomas Kretschmann

Mark Strong

The Secret of Moonacre (2008)

Dracula (2013)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

The Company (2007)

Eichmann (2007)

The Eagle (2011)

My Father, Rua Alguem 5555 (2003)

Sunshine (1999)

Contaminated Man (2000) Cadfael (1994)

Open Grave (2013)

Good (2008)

THE THREE-TIMERS CLUB

Donald Sutherland

Rufus Sewell

Michael Gambon

The Eagle (2011)

Hercules (2014)

Being Julia (2004)

The Pillars of the Earth (2010)

The Gambler (1997)

Citizen X (1995)

John Adams (2008)

Maigret (1992-1993)

Bill Nighy

Helen Mirren

Ian Hart

Underworld (2013)

The Door (2012)

Mack the Knife (1989)

The Debt (2010)

The Last Kingdom (2015-2017)

The Phantom of the Opera (1989)

Red King, White Knight (1989)

Dough (2015)

Daniel Craig

Max von Sydow

François Arnaud

Munich (2005)

Citizen X (1995)

Fateless (2005)

Red King, White Knight (1989)

The Man Who Was Thursday (2016)

A Kid in King Arthur’s Court (1995)

Den of Lions (2003)

X Company (2015-2016)

Victory (1981)

The Borgias (2011-2013)

Bobby Cannavale

Joely Richardson

Toby Jones

Spy (2015)

Red Sparrow (2018)

100 Feet (2008)

Emerald City (2017)

Atomic Blonde (2017)

When Trumpets Fade (1998)

Fallen (2016)

Titanic (2012)

Fiona Shaw

Holiday Grainger

John Hurt

Emerald City (2017)

The Borgias (2011-2013)

Hercules (2014)

The White King (2016) Maigret Sets a Trap (2016)

The Rite (2011)

Bel Ami (2012)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Robin Hood (2009)

Living on Borrowed Time (1993) HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Peak Years in Service It is no longer easy to keep track of the various projects that are being filmed in Hungary, so let’s focus on the bigger ones! The first half of 2017 brought two big-budget Hollywood movies to Hungary, both of which have recently wrapped. Directed by Francis Lawrence of ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise, ‘Red Sparrow’ is an espionage thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton and Jeremy Irons. The other big name is ‘Robin Hood’, which is a new take on the classic tale and stars Taron Egerton, Jamie Dorman and Jamie Foxx. It is interesting to note that both films will have their United States premiere in March 2018. Cinemagoers this year will be able to see multiple pictures shot in Hungary. In July, a Cold War action thriller entitled ‘Atomic Blonde’ and starring Charlize Theron and James McAvoy will hit the theatres; the trailer is already out and incites us to expect ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’-type action on the

'Atomic Blonde'

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streets of Budapest. However, October is the month everyone is waiting for, because ‘Blade Runner 2049’, the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic, will be released. Starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford and directed by ‘Arrival’ helmer Denis Villeneuve, the sequel was filmed entirely in Hungary. As you can read on page 12, it was the biggest production to ever come to the country. Also out this year is ‘Hunter’s Prayer’, an action thriller directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Sam Worthington; it was filmed in 2015 in both London and Budapest. No release date is available at the moment, but we expext WW2 thriller ‘HHhH’ to come out in autumn. The film tells the true story of two Czech resistance fighters who plan to assassinate a Nazi leader. Directed by Cédric Jimenez, it stars Mia Wasikowska,

'Red Sparrow'

'Emerald City'

Rosamund Pike, Jack O’Connell, Jason Clarke and Jack Reynor. Equally as exciting is the array of TV shows. ‘Emerald City’ recently completed its run on NBC, and Canada’s ‘X Company’ ended its third and final season this spring, but there are several new or returning shows to be happy about. The National Geographic’s ‘Mars’, whose executive producers are Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, was seen by 36 million viewers around the globe last autumn and became the most DVR-ed series in the network’s history; the second season will start production soon. Also expected to return for a new season is ‘Jamestown’ produced by Carnival Films, makers of the multiawardwinning global hit ‘Downton Abbey’.

Filming is already underway for the newly rebooted season of ‘Strike Back’, set to air later on this year on Cinemax. AMC’s ‘The Terror’ is finishing up, but TNT’s ‘The Alienist’ is having a marathon of a shoot, wrapping only in early autumn. Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Maigret’ character also returns with two made-for-TV movies. Most of these shows film their entire seasons in Hungary, but sometimes we welcome projects for only a few days of exterior shoots. This year’s most prominent guest was Stephen Daldry, the director of ‘Billy Elliot’, who arrived for a week-long shoot in March for the new season of his Golden Globewinning series ‘The Crown’. Gábor Osváth

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Back in The Graces of The Audience There is a palpable shift in the attitude of Hungarian moviegoers towards the country’s current cinema. People seem to be more interested in domestic movies, and the number of viewers is finally on the rise.

'Liza the Fox-Fairy'

It was only in March that Gábor Herendi, the director of popular comedies ‘A Kind of America’ and ‘Hungarian Vagabond’, predicted that 2017 would bring about a turning point in Hungarian cinema. He felt that the movies coming out this year had the potential to tip the scale: Hungarian moviegoers who had been disappointed by one domestic movie after another would be lured back into cinemas. Even though Herendi was definitely being optimistic, he remained cautious about predicting the number of audience of his own new film, Kincsem. But as it turns out, he was unnecessarily worried: at the time of writing this article, 'Kincsem' has already been seen by more than 350 000 people in Hungary, and it is still going strong in cinemas. This means that it has become the 10th most widely seen Hungarian movie in Hungary since the regime change in 1989. The last time a Hungarian movie was this successful was in 2008 when the sequel to ‘A Kind of America’ came out,

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

also directed by Gábor Herendi; by the end of its run it had been seen by almost 450 000 people. I for one would not have predicted ‘Kincsem’s’ success when it was first announced. A 19thcentury period movie about a racehorse did not sound that appealing, even if it did have Ervin Nagy and Andrea Petrik in the lead roles. If recent years have taught us anything, it is that there are no real Hungarian movie stars: there is no one actor whose name automatically draws a large number of viewers to cinemas. I was also weary when filmmakers kept stressing that the film would have state-ofthe-art horse racing scenes – I mean, we have all seen more Hollywood action movies than we would care to admit, and Hungarian movie budgets are not meant to compete on that level. So was I surprised by the high production value of this movie? Yes. Do I think that this is what is behind the movie’s success? No.

'Brazils'

'Kincsem'

Of course it helps that the film is well made from a technical point of view, and it does not hurt either that it is exciting, romantic and funny without ever insulting the viewer’s intelligence. However, I am not entirely convinced that these are the most important factors that contributed to its success. Strangely enough, I think it has much more to do with the success of arthouse titles like László Nemes’ ‘Son of Saul’ and Ildikó Enyedi’s ‘On Body and Soul’. Gábor Herendi was certainly right in saying that Hungarian cinemagoers had already some time ago turned away from Hungarian movies. While the last two decades may have produced Hungarian masterpieces such as Béla Tarr’s ‘Werckmeister Harmonies’ and ‘The Turin Horse’ and saw the emergence of a new generation of brilliant filmmakers, including Kornél Mundruczó, György Pálfi and Szabolcs Hajdu, this was only of interest to a small niche audience. At the same time, some

Hungarian movies that were strictly made for entertainment purposes reached such a low point in terms of scriptwriting, directing and execution that mainstream audiences were no longer willing to pay for a ticket to see a Hungarian film. Even though there were still, of course, great Hungarian movies being made, they were mostly lost in a sea of indifference, if not one of outright hatred among the Hungarian general audience. When the Hungarian National Film Fund was set up in 2011, it promised to earn back the trust of moviegoers and to fund movies that had the potential of becoming blockbusters; but they got off to a slow start. For a few years it seemed that even though the general quality of the movies being produced under the aegis of the film fund were slightly higher, viewers cared little.

'On Body on Soul'

However, things are starting to look a little brighter now. The years 2014 and 2015 brought about the success of quirky comedies like ‘For Some Inexplicable Reason’ by Gábor Reisz and ‘Liza the Fox-Fairy’ by Károly Ujj Mészáros. Even if people were not flocking to cinemas, word of mouth got around that these unique little gems were worth seeing. I believe that ‘Son of Saul’ has had the biggest impact on the way Hungarian films are now being perceived by Hungarian audiences. After winning the Grand Prize of the Jury in Cannes, Nemes’ film was seen by about 100 000 people in Hungary in 2015 alone, and then, largely thanks to winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, it was seen by almost a further 170 000 people in 2016, making it the most widely seen Hungarian movie of the year. These awards were just the launching pad, as word of mouth was again most probably the decisive factor. Because even though ‘Son

of Saul’ is a hard-to-watch Holocaust movie and serious arthouse fare, which might not suit everyone, it touched people on both an emotional and an intellectual level and it started debates, and even those who did not like it walked away sensing that they had just seen something special; they were not disappointed. And then this year we got lucky: we won a Golden Bear at the Berlinale and Best Live Action Short at the Academy Awards. Of course I do not mean to suggest that it was pure luck that these films received awards; Ildikó Enyedi’s ‘On Body and Soul’ (seen by approx. 63 000 people at the time of writing) is a great piece of filmmaking and Kristóf Deák’s short, ‘Sing’, is perfectly sweet. But it must be said

'Sing'

'Son of Saul'

that timing was fortunate. ‘Son of Saul’ was still fresh in Hungarian cinemagoers’ minds, and together with these new awards, these two films gave rise to the perception that Hungarian cinema was once again both interesting and worthwhile. Which is why I think people took a chance on ‘Kincsem’ as well as on ‘Brazils’, a wellmeaning comedy by Csaba M. Kiss and Gábor Rohonyi about a group of underprivileged Roma kids in rural Hungary who set their mind on winning the village’s football championship against all odds. ‘Brazils’, which came out at the beginning of April, has already been seen by more than 65 000 people. I can quite honestly say that if not the best, it might just be the most important film of the year because it carries a strongly positive, antiracist message in a country fraught with racial tension and disillusionment. Bori Bujdosó

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From Cannes to

Cannes The 70th Cannes International Film Festival shows the past, present and future of Hungarian cinema: Zoltán Fábri’s ‘Merry-Go-Round’ is selected for Cannes Classics; Kornél Mundruczó is back into the Official Competition with ‘Jupiter’s Moon’; György Kristóf' debutes with 'Out' at Un Certain Regard; and Áron Szentpéteri‘s 'Invisibly’ is selected for Cinéfondation.

Cannes, Where Films Are Truly Born

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Kornél Mundruczó returns to Cannes for the seventh time. His latest feature, ‘Jupiter’s Moon’, a story about a flying man, has been invited to compete in the main section of the festival. Honour, tradition and crisis - motifs of a Hungarian filmmaker’s career growing up in Cannes.

“Cannes is not a purpose, but a tool to reach as many viewers as possible”, said Kornél Mundruczó in 2014 when ‘White God’ was selected to be in the festival programme. The tool has worked, as ‘White God’ has become Mundruczó’s greatest success in Hungary, Europe and the United States. Not only was the film distributed overseas, it was also selected to appear at the most prestigious of American independent film heavens, Sundance. None of this could have been possible without Cannes: Cannes chose the film and Cannes awarded the film; the rest is history.

Hungarian movie. “It’s a big thing to be invited to this selection. I feel honoured and scared at the same time. The greatest acknowledgment is that, from time to time, I can participate among these fantastic filmmakers. Honestly, I can truthfully say, this time it’s the participation that counts”, adds Mundruczó.

It is to nobody’s surprise that Mundruczó is back, three years later: his latest feature, entitled ‘Jupiter’s Moon’, has been selected among the world’s best films, in competition for the Palm d’Or. This year the Cannes Film Festival premieres auteurs like Fatih Akin, François Ozon, Todd Haynes, Noah Baumbach, Sofia Coppola and Michael Haneke, which is a hell of a selection for the festival’s 70th anniversary; to be in competition in Cannes, and on top of that to be in this company is an honour for any

It will be the seventh time that Mundruczó visits the Cannes Film Festival. He has made his way, little by little since the very beginning, by climbing the ladder in a specific yet original way. Mundruczó was the first Hungarian director to ever be invited to the Cinéfondation with his graduation film, ‘Little Apocrypha No. 2’, a pre-study to ‘Delta’ and ‘Joan of Arc on the Night Bus’, a short film that was originally part of an omnibus film and invited to the Directors’ Fortnight before being developed into a separate opera feature, as well as ‘Johanna’, which was presented by Un Certain Regard. ‘Delta’ won the FIPRESCI Prize and ‘White God’ received the main award in Un Certain Regard. It is not easy to follow all these achievements! Mundruczó loves to return to his topics and motifs, and Cannes sure loves his way of thinking. Mundruczó reciprocates this love, and his all-time favourite moment must have been when ‘White God’ won the festival’s main prize in 2014. “It was such a euphoric moment, of course. But the real beauty is when viewers and colleagues stop you on the Croisette to

‘Jupiter’s Moon’

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Mundruczó Films to Watch congratulate you. It’s that instant feedback. A film premiere is a very delicate moment full of anxiety after all those years and all that hard work. You start questioning yourself: will people like my film? Will people understand it? I have been so lucky to have these special moments in Cannes. For me, Cannes is where my films were truly born”. This is the third time that Mundruczó’s work has been invited to the main competition. Before him only four other Hungarian helmers had made it: Miklós Jancsó, István Szabó, Károly Makk and Márton Keleti. “I think of myself as a Hungarian filmmaker. I am proud to direct Hungarian movies and am delighted to be part of this tradition in filmmaking. Fortunately, contemporary Hungarian cinema is very strong, not only through individual talent but also through the power it represents: auteurism and independence”. Mundruczó’s latest feature, ‘Jupiter’s Moon’, which was first known as ‘Superfluous Man’ and before that as ‘Flying Man’, centres around the refugee crisis. It is not the first time that the director addresses this issue; in his play entitled ‘Winterreise’, a Schubert opus, he used pictures taken in a Hungarian refugee camp. “When I first met people from the camp, I felt like their destinies represented being on the road and being alone, without a past or future. What Franz Peter Schubert wrote was so heartbreaking”. The script of ‘Jupiter’s Moon’ was written by Kata Wéber and had been ready for a long time. It was a dystopian vision about a European crisis; a vision that became reality when thousands of refugees camped for almost a month in Budapest’s Keleti Railway Station. As well as actually helping the migrants, Mundruczó was looking for motifs and images to represent a crisis. According to the synopsis, the story is about a young immigrant, played by Zsombor Jéger, who is shot down while illegally crossing the border into Hungary. Terrified and in shock, the wounded boy is now mysteriously able to levitate at will. He is smuggled out of the refugee camp by Dr Stern, played by Merab Ninidze, with the intent of exploiting him. However, the doctor is soon inspired by the boy’s amazing powers and takes a leap of faith. The film is a GermanHungarian co-production shot in Hungary with funding from the National Film Fund, Eurimages, ZDF-ARTE, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and NRW. Mundruczó tends to like a challenge: he shot a film on a river (‘Delta’), worked with 200 dogs (‘White God’) and can now direct levitation

Jupiter’s Moon, 2017 White God, 2014 Tender Son: the Frankenstein Project, 2010 Delta, 2008 Johanna, 2005 Short Lasting Silence (an episode in the omnibus film called Lost and Found), 2005 Little Apocrypha No. 2, short 2004 Little Apocrypha No. 1, short 2004 Pleasant Days, 2002 Day After Day, short 2001 This I Wish and Nothing More, 2000

scenes. Ayran, the main character, actually flies in the movie thanks to a special crew that included the stunt coordinator Gáspár Szabó and the rigger Balázs Farkas, who both aspired to create the most credible view of levitation. Certain members of the crew are longtime participants in Mundruczó’s filmmaking: Viktória Petrányi as the producer, Kata Wéber as the scriptwriter, Marcell Kornél Mundruczó Ágh as the production photo by Armin Smailovic designer, Dávid Jancsó as the editor and Marcell Rév as the cinematographer. A new composer has joined the team, Jed Kurzel, who has previously worked with Justin Kurzel (‘Macbeth’, ‘Assassin’s Creed’) and Ridley Scott (‘Alien: Covenant’), and who was also responsible for the music in the horror movie ‘The Babadook’. Hungarian films are on fire these days: ‘Son of Saul’ won the Grand Prix in Cannes as well as an Oscar and a Bafta, ‘Not the Time of my Life’ won a Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary and ‘On Body and Soul’ just won the main prize at the Berlinale. “I think we are living in a time that is very responsive to film culture. Every aspect of our life is based on a series of moving pictures, so the audience can increasingly learn to think in images. Hungarian cinema has always had an independent, auteurist tradition and been full of great artists. Now we can see the results of a long process, and in a highly funded system. We have to avoid simply being a passing wave and must continue our work”. ‘Jupiter’s Moon’ is on the verge of launching its international career, but Mundruczó already has plans for 2018: he is about to start shooting his first international production, a deep-sea sci-fi entitled ‘Deeper’. Anita Libor HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

The Editor Behind Kornél Mundruczó's Films Dávid Jancsó has become Kornél Mundruczó’s longtime co-creator, ever since they worked together on the director’s 2008 movie ‘Delta’. Jancsó has edited four of his seven feature films that have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival in previous years, and this year Mundruczó’s latest feature, ‘Jupiter’s Moon’, is back in the festival’s competition programme. We got together with Jancsó to ask him about his style of editing as well as about his marvellous work alongside the director. Your mother, Zsuzsa Csákány, also works as an editor. Did she encourage you to get into the same line of work? Encourage me?! Definitely not. Both my parents tried everything to keep me away from movies, but as I was raised on film sets and near Steenbecks, they were bound to fail. I chose editing because it is the only original and unique art form in film. It has no equivalent in any other profession and for me it represents the core of cinema. It is also a role where you get to create something new and distinctive while staying in the shadows. As an editor you sit in the first seat of the second row. It’s a dream job! Do you have role models in the editing scene? I have more role models than I could even list here. There are fantastic artists in our profession.

'Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project'

Is it safe to say that you are Kornél Mundruczó’s longtime co-creator? Like Sally Menke to Quentin Tarantino, Walter Murch to Francis Ford Coppola or Zsuzsa Csákány to Miklós Jancsó and István Szabó. Kornél spotted me at film school and took me on to help him finish ‘Delta’, my first feature. I have been working with him ever since. It’s up to him to say, of course, but I would like to think that that’s the case. What is your relationship with Mundruczó like? We are friends and often get together in between films. As an editor, it’s hard not to get close to directors, because the sanctity of the editing room creates a bond that either ends in friendship or in murder. What is it like to work with him? How much does he allow you to get involved in the director’s concept? It is very inspiring to work on his films and I get a lot out of it. He knows how to shoot for the editing part, meaning that it’s option upon option. It’s a rather standard method; we discuss what he would like to achieve and then I take a first rough look at the footage to get acquainted with it before we talk about it again to fine-tune it. Then come the jigsaw puzzles and the whatifs... Filmmaking is a group effort but where, at the end of the day, the directors take all of the blame. We, as editors, are there to help get the best result and every good director knows that. It wouldn’t work any other way.

'Childhood of the Leader'

At what stage do you get involved in the production? Do you go out to the shooting or do you only work with the raw material? It varies from project to project. Most of the time I read the script and give feedback, but I don’t like to spend too much time on it so as to keep my distance from the material. On Day 2 I usually start working with the footage in the editing room and try to give as much feedback to the set as possible. I hate film shoots. I don’t like to be on set but prefer to be the neutral first audience for the movie... there are of course exceptions.

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'Delta'

How was it with ‘Jupiter’s Moon’? ‘Jupiter’s Moon’ was the exception. I was on set for nearly the whole shoot. I wasn’t editing though; well, not physically anyway. I was on set to do - funnily enough - what my mother was doing on my father’s shoots: commenting on tempo, rhythm and story. So yes, ‘Jupiter’s Moon’ has quite a few long sequence shots. Mundruczó’s seven features were screened at the Cannes Film Festival and you are the editor of four of them (‘Delta’, ‘Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project’, ‘White God’ and ‘Jupiter’s Moon’). Do you go to Cannes with the films? What kind of feedback do you get there as an editor? As an editor you breathe the film for so long that you become very attached to it. So as a kind of farewell I tend to accompany all my films to their premieres. So yes, I’ve been there every single time. Cannes is always such a surreal experience; there is just no other place in the world where the audience is this tough and responsive. I have had great experiences so far. As for feedback, I have actually got many offers thanks to Kornél’s films. Especially after ‘White God’... I still have nightmares about dogs.

'White God'

You have worked as an editor on television shows (‘Therapy’ and ‘Társasjáték’) as well as on short films. Is there anything that sets them apart from an editing point of view? No, in my opinion there should be no difference. You create what the film’s genre or language requires you to. As an editor you have to feel at home in every field. At the end of the day, you are telling a story... even if there is no storyline. What are you working on right now and what’s next? Funny you should ask… I’m still working on ‘Jupiter's Moon’. I’m the type who takes a film to the end. Directors are often already on to their next project by the time editing for their last film is over, so they leave their editors to be their stand-ins for the post-process. My next jobs will be really cool. The first in line is directed by Brady Corbet and entitled ‘Vox Lux’ and, right after that, I’ll be jumping back into Kornél’s studio with a film starring Bradley Cooper. I’m happy to say that I will have a busy two years ahead. Zsófi Herczeg 'Jupiter's Moon'

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photo by Gábor Valuska

Interview with Áron Szentpéteri

Capturing Inner Emotions in The Dark Soon to graduate from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest, Áron Szentpéteri’s short film ‘Invisibly’ has been selected to this year’s Cinéfondation. This interesting and brave story depicts how a blind man’s life means much more than just not being able to see. We talked with the director about how he worked with his main actor, capturing his feelings and fears about his disability.

Where did the idea of ‘Invisibly’ come from? It came from a personal experience, a strange situation that happened years ago when I went to the Invisible Exhibition in Budapest with an exgirlfriend. The exhibition is entirely in the dark, as the whole idea is to offer an experience of the world from a blind person’s point of view. I really enjoyed it, but on the way home my girlfriend told me she had had quite a different experience. I don’t want to spoil it, as what happened is in the film, but it came back to me years later. It got me thinking, and slowly turned into a story. The original focus was on the couple and how they dealt with the situation that brought pre-existing conflicts in the relationship to the surface. When I met Tamás Barkó, who later became the lead actor, I realised that a different take on the story would be much more interesting. How did you meet Barkó? I was looking for a blind actor for this first version. When I met him, we sat down to talk and the concept of relationships came up. He told me about the constant uncertainty about what the other is looking for: is it just your blindness that is exotic or is there genuine affection? It is often hard to distinguish and can lead to a lot of disappointment. The limits between flirting and being nice are not obvious anyway. Until something concrete happens,

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like a kiss, for example, people can interpret things the way they want. Tamás’s personality really moved me. He is very sensitive: impressions like texture, smell or even a sentence can stay with him for a long time. He thinks about them and they come back weeks or months later. This has nothing to do with him being blind, he just tends to get deeply involved, emotionally, in things and situations. It is simply part of his personality. What was the biggest challenge when working with Tamás as an actor for the first time? We did a lot of preparation from April to September by meeting each other more and more until shooting began. In the beginning there was no finished script, so we just talked, improvised and practiced. I often recorded these situations so Tamás could get used to the camera, to my presence and to receiving instructions without losing focus in a scene. Learning the lines was different too. First I emailed Tamás the script, which he memorised by listening to his computer read it out loud. This did not work so well, though, as the intonation of the voice-over affected the way he remembered his lines. So I ended up reading them to him myself. It turned out to be a good idea, because I got to spend more time with him, during which I also watched him do everyday things like make tea or mop the floor. These are really simple things, but I noticed gestures that were really his own. We later built on these in the film. In the visuals, did you want to capture the way Tamás senses the world? We talked a lot about this with the cinematographer, Zoli Dévényi. We decided that it

would be impossible and we didn’t want the film to focus on how the blind sense the world anyway. So we chose to limit the number of these scenes and came up with a visual solution that doesn’t try to be absolutely accurate, but rather serves the global purpose of the film on an emotional level. For me these moments are not just moments of perception, but are instead expressions of the character’s inner emotional state or the projections of a sort of inner attention. I asked Tomi a lot at the beginning too so that he could explain his experience of certain things to me. But language is made for those with sight and society does not encourage the blind to be conscious about their own inner experience of the world. Let me give you an example to be more clear. We played a game once while preparing for the shoot, where we had to imagine something. Tomi remembered that at school they had been asked to imagine they were kings; so we did the same. I asked, “So why is it good to be a king?” He said that you sit on a high throne and can look down at things from above. I replied, “Ok, I know how that feels, but I don’t understand what it might mean for you”. It turned out that, blind at birth, he learned these expressions that don’t mean much to him at all. So we ended up sitting in different places. It took some time to get to a point where sitting up high feels better because space feels different. When we sat on the ground with our backs to a tree Tomi felt the push from behind as well as from underneath, as if space was falling down on him, whereas sitting up on the top of a bench with our feet on the seat felt more spacious and more free. You start the film with minutes of darkness, when all the audience can hear are people speaking in the background at the exhibition. In the first scene we wanted to get the audience attuned to the film, like every director always does. But it’s not actually dark because it is a

'Invisibly'

subjective or POV shot that tries to show how blind people experience the world. Or some artistic bravour. It’s the objective reality of the scene, in which there is no light. The scene wants to introduce the basic situation, focusing on what happens to blind people in the dark. Which directors do you admire? I really like Joachim Trier, especially his first two features. I also like Ruben Östlund and films of the Romanian New Wave. If I had to choose a main figure in film history it would be Andrei Tarkovsky. Among Hungarian auteurs, Szabolcs Hajdu’s work and approach to filmmaking is really inspiring, and I loved Károly Makk’s ‘Love’ and Zoltán Huszárik’s ‘Sindbad’. But I have a lot to catch up on when it comes to classics, as there is still so much I haven’t seen. What’s your next project? I’m currently working on my graduation short film. After Cannes I will focus entirely on that, but right now there’s still a lot of work to do with ‘Invisibly’. Usually when you make a short film, you screen it once or twice for your friends and family, it travels to a few festivals, it’s watched by 500 to 1 000 people and that’s it, even though you have worked on it for 1.5 years. Getting into Cannes changes things: films get more attention and give you more work, but that’s the good kind of tired. Janka Pozsonyi

photo by Gábor Valuska

Hungarians in the Cinéfondation

Áron Szentpéteri’s ‘Invisibly’ getting selected to the Cinéfondation is a great honour, but there have been some other young directors who have also been given the chance to premiere their student films in this grand section. The director who introduced Hungarians to the Cinéfondation for the first time was Kornél Mundruczó (a regular here in Cannes and whose feature ‘Jupiter’s Moon’ is in competition this year too) in 2004, whose graduation short film ‘Little Apocrypha No.2’ was selected. Two years later he was followed by Ágnes Kocsis, whose short film ‘The Virus’ shared third prize. The next young director to be selected was Bálint Szimler, in 2010, who premiered his short entitled ‘Here I Am’. György Mór Kárpáti’s ‘Provincia’ was selected and screened in Cinéfondation in 2014, and last year saw the premiere of the first Hungarian animated short in the selection called ‘The Noise of Licking’ by Nadja Andrasev, which also won shared third prize. HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Beyond Borders

Hungarian Participation in International Co-Productions On the other hand, the Hungarian National Film Fund (HNFF) has been supporting several international co-productions through Hungarian film companies, for instance KMH Film, Laokoon Film Group, Mirage Film and Proton Cinema. Besides the fund’s transparent system of supporting films, the 25% Hungarian tax rebate is also an attractive element for teaming up with Hungarian producers. One might ask why a nation’s film-funding organisation should support foreign movies. Firstly, Hungary will be mentioned in connection with these co-productions and it is therefore beneficial for both parties to work together, because getting new talents and professionals recognised means more collaboration in the future. Besides, the participation in international co-productions is interesting for a European country because of other cultural and social reasons: to remember the past and to build and maintain a common cultural identity in the future. The Dutch historical drama ‘Kenau’ (2014) was a spectacular example of this. The director Maarten Treurniet’s movie was a Dutch, Belgian and Hungarian co-production and was partly supported by the HNFF and produced by I’m FILM. ‘Kenau’ fictionalised a real event of the Eighty Years’ War, namely the struggle of a female warband during the siege of Haarlem in 1572, through which Kenau, the leader of the group, became the symbol of the European woman who knows her rights and is ready to fight for her family and for freedom. Equality for women and the hunger for freedom – which are also principles of the European Union – were therefore the premises of Treurniet’s work. The German, Romanian and Hungarian coproduction ‘That Trip We Took With Dad’, directed by the Romanian-German Anca Miruna Lăzărescu was partly produced by Mirage Film Studio with Hungarian financial participation. 40

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The new film-financing structure has undoubtedly achieved a lot insofar as breathing life into the film industry and winning back the Hungarian audience both at home and in the international playground. As 'Out' by György Kristóf is selected for Un Certain Regard, we looked through the international co-productions with Hungarian participation.

The central theme of Lăzărescu’s work is the collective memory of eastern European socialism. The Romanian-born director used her father’s real-life story as an example of how the illusions of many young eastern Europeans were destroyed with the fall of the movements of 1968, especially the Prague Spring. This road movie could be interpreted as a typical experience of the Eastern Bloc before 1989. And through the protagonist’s conversations with West German radical leftists, Lăzărescu also talks about how Romanians, Hungarians and East Germans lost faith in capitalism after the end of communism. The Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian coproduction ‘6.9 on the Richter scale’ has just been released and touches the theme of being an eastern European, not unlike ‘The Trip We Took With Dad’. Nae Caranfil’s movie is supported by both the HNFF and co-produced by Cinema Film. The dramedy’s story is about a middle-aged actor, Tony, who has become burned out and dissatisfied with his marriage. It is also about the tale of a mid-life crisis as a generational conflict and the legacy of socialism, as the protagonist’s infantile father was symbolically named after a Russian plane. A Slovak, Czech and Hungarian project entitled ‘Out’ was co-produced by KMH Film and Mirage Film Studio. The major part of the budget was provided by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, which complemented the Hungarian and the Czech participation. The Slovak-Hungarian director György Kristóf’s work is, of the abovementioned films, the closest to Hungary because of its protagonist and mainly Hungarian cast, and it will be the second Hungarian film at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival alongside Kornél Mundruczó’s ‘Jupiter’s Moon’. Just as in Caranfil’s film, ‘Out’ tells the story of a disillusioned eastern European man, Ágoston, who loses his job and is forced to find a new one somewhere in Lithuania. The film therefore catches the experience of economic migrants and of course reveals the

Kenau: • O verall budget: 6 330 000 EUR • Support by the Hungarian National Film Fund • Production: ~ 183 000 EUR (56 640 000 HUF) 'Kenau'

That Trip We Took With Dad • • • • • 'That Trip We Took With Dad'

Overall budget: ~ 2 564 000 EUR Support by the Hungarian National Film Fund Pre-production: ~ 16 200 EUR (5 000 000 HUF) Production: ~ 242 000 EUR (75 000 000 HUF) Domestic marketing support: ~ 32 400 EUR (10 000 000 HUF)

6.9 on the Richter Scale • Overall budget: TBA • Support by the Hungarian National Film Fund • Production: ~ 163 000 EUR (50 200 000 HUF) '6.9 on the Richter Scale'

Out

'Out'

• Overall budget: ~ 1 300 000 EUR (~ 405 827 604 HUF) • Support by the Hungarian National Film Fund • Script development: ~ 65 000 EUR (2 000 000 HUF) • Pre-production: ~ 50 000 EUR (15 612 770 HUF) • Production: ~ 143 000 EUR (44 260 553 HUF) Ether • Overall budget: TBA • Support by the Hungarian National Film Fund • Production: ~ 189 000 EUR (58 500 000 HUF)

Krzysztof Zanussi

post-socialist condition of the countries beyond the former Iron Curtain. Finally, ‘Ether’ is set during the years of the Great War. The prominent Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi has not revealed much about his movie yet, but he did say that it is going to be a ‘Faustian project’ that deals with the early insecure use of anaesthetics. Zanussi shared the following thoughts in an interview: ‘many were dying because there was no way of knowing whether enough was being given. It was dangerous. It was also a symbol of possession. It is Faust; it is the intriguing idea that a human being can sell their own soul. People don’t sell their work, they sell their soul’. ‘Ether’ is a

Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Hungarian co-production (the Hungarian co-production company is Laokoon Film Group). A co-production can only be successful if the story of the film demands the collaboration of international partners that can foster its creative energy and help its production. These films do not simply narrate exciting and dramatic stories, they also help their audience remember and deal with the past in which problems of the present are deeply rooted. Remembrance is the key to a more predictable future and a common cultural identity that encourages collaboration between the nations of today’s Europe. Attila Benke

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François Truffaut’s ‘Grand Prix’ Winner Six decades after the 1956 competition, ‘MerryGo-Round' returns to the Cannes Film Festival. The movie, which basically renewed the language of Hungarian film, will be screened for the audience in the Cannes Classics section on the occasion of the festival’s 70th anniversary. Back in 1956, a very young film critic, a certain François Truffaut, sparked off a minor revolution in protest of the film not having been awarded the Palm d’Or. Now, the 60-year-old Hungarian National Film Archive, which has been operating under the Film Fund since January this year, kicked off its extensive preservation programme with the restoration of ‘Merry-Go-Round’. Zoltán Fábri, the director of the film, was born in Budapest 100 years ago, on 15 October 1917. He was a classic of Hungarian film history already during his lifetime. After István Szőts’ ‘People of the Mountains’ (1941) and Géza Radványi’s ‘Somewhere in Europe’ (1947), it was ‘Merry-GoRound’ that introduced the world to Hungarian filmmaking. Two more films of Fábri’s, ‘Anna’ (1958) and ‘The Brute’ (1961), also entered into competition in Cannes, while his other films ‘The Boys of Paul Street’ (1968) and ‘Hungarians’ (1977) were nominated for an Oscar. Only four of his twenty-one films were not based on literary works, and his subjects were always dedicated to “the defenceless little man”. Fábri was a renaissance artist par excellence; starting his career as a painter, he was later trained as an actor and a stage director, followed by his qualification in stage design. In 1941, at the age of 24, he was invited to direct in the National Theatre of Hungary. His first films were made in the era of schematism (Storm (1951) and ‘Fourteen Lives Saved’ (1952)). It was during the period of melting after Stalin’s death and of the first Imre Nagy government that ‘Merry-GoRound’ was made, in 1955. The film seizes the moment when, in 1953, people were able to choose

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Zoltán Fábri’s ‘Merry-Go-Round’ in the Cannes Classics whether to farm individually or to stay within the kolkhozes. The unprecedented novelty of the film, a clear contrast to its epoch, is apparent in two intertwined motifs. Compared to Imre Sarkadi’s short story, Fábri shifted the emphasis from social issues to individual fates. The film’s major motif is how love, passion and subtle emotions are featured. And what is just as significant is that for the first time in Hungarian film history, until then based on verbal dialogue, vision and rhythm make a breakthrough and earn worldwide critical acclaim. The conflict in the film, when Pataki (played by Béla Barsi) leaves the kolkhoz and urges his daughter (portrayed by Mari Törőcsik) to marry the rich peasant he is associated with, is exposed by the director at the outset and is held in suspense to the very end. In the short story, however, this motif only serves as a flashback for the sake of social analysis, as recalled by the married life of the lovers. Törőcsik’s softened, radiant close-ups arise from among the naturalistic images of the fair, where her father promises her to the rich suitor (Ádám Szirtes). The subsequent merry-go-round scene, in the virtuoso shots

'Merry-Go-Round' photo by Teréz Schwandl / HNFA

manually taken by the cameraman Barnabás Hegyi, accumulates to a metaphor of happiness to which the director adds visual and musical analogies. The vitalisation of space is accompanied by modernist motifs such as the metaphor of “mud-Hungary”, one of sociographic authenticity expressing social despondency and in which Törőcsik’s character surrenders to her father’s greedy terror. Consisting of 77 cuts, the dance that the lovers perform at a wedding party of the neighbourhood, publicly owning up to their revolt, has become iconic in Hungarian cinema. The csardas and the cuts start deliriously whirling about, in contrast to the petrified outside world. Ever-tightening shots highlight the shocked groom’s hands as he clings to his glass, the father’s menacing expression and the mother’s anxious face. The long shots are also counterpointed by close-ups of the dancers. When the happiness montage of the merry-go-round fades in, its image features the girl’s state of consciousness. No one says a word.

I knew a single wonderful exception, Imre Soós, who all at once knew everything from the get go.” The French papers that reported from Cannes called Soós the “Hungarian Gérard Philipe”. And a very young film critic at the time, a certain François Truffaut, talked of Törőcsik. Regardless of the jury, he set up a ranking of his own, and besides awarding the Palm d’Or to the film, he would have also awarded the Best Actress award to the 20-year-old who had just featured in her first film. Törőcsik was eventually officially awarded the prize twenty years later for her performance in ‘Mrs. Dery Where Are You?’ (1976). Due to the serious damage that the camera negative had suffered, as well as its resulting deficiencies, the real beauty of the film has only been able to be recovered through the present digital restoration, the works of which took four months in the Hungarian Film Lab. Eszter Fazekas

‘Merry-Go-Round’ is the summit of the transition era. It was due to the film’s impact that a much more natural standard of directing, shooting and acting, based on visual language, took shape in the history of Hungarian cinema. Fábri’s discovery of Mari Törőcsik, then only a secondyear college student, and the marvellous way in which he guided the actors are ample evidence of his talent. In both votes so far, Hungarian film critics have placed ‘Merry-Go-Round’ among the 12 best of Budapest (1968, 2000). Mari Törőcsik remembers Imre Soós: “Even the very best actors are only talented at the beginning of their careers; it is through their life and experience that they become great.

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The Girl on The 'Merry-Go-Round':

Mari Töro ´´ csik 81-year-old Mari Törőcsik is probably the most successful Hungarian actress: she has the highest number of awards in the country and is the only Hungarian actress who has ever won the Best Actress award at Cannes.

She received this accolade in 1976 for the lead role of ‘Mrs. Dery Where Are You?’, an intimate drama based on the diaries of the famous 19th-century actress, directed by Gyula Maár, Törőcsik’s husband, and photographed by Oscarnominated cinematographer Lajos Koltai.

At the gala of Hungarian Film Week in 2016 photo by Noémi Bruzák / MTI

However, this was not the first of her films to have been screened in Cannes. Her debut at the festival (even though she could not attend herself) was in 1956 with Zoltán Fábri’s ‘Merry-Go-Round’, which premiered in the Competition when Törőcsik was still only a drama school student. It was also her very first – and to this day probably her most famous – role: she plays a rebellious girl in rural Hungary who is not willing to marry the man her father has chosen for her for economic reasons, and instead decides to follow her heart. After Törőcsik received her acting diploma in 1958 she became a member of the National Theatre company, where she stayed for over twenty years. Her first decade as a theatre actress was notoriously hard due to the scathing reviews she received, but by the end of the 1960s, even her earlier, harshest critics were convinced of her talent. Meanwhile, she never ceased to be successful on the big screen. Her collaboration with Fábri continued with other films, among them ‘Sweet Anna’ (1959), which also competed in Cannes, and ‘The Boys of Paul Street’ (1969). When János Herskó’s ‘Iron Flower’ premiered in the festival’s Competition in 1958, she was finally able to attend the screening. Mari Torőcsik in 'Merry-Go-Round' photoy by Teréz Schwandl / HNFA

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Miklós Jancsó directed her in ‘Silence and Cry’ (1968) and in ‘Electra, My Love’ (1975), and the latter was also in the Competition in Cannes. Another festival highlight was Károly Makk’s 1971 masterpiece, ‘Love’, set in the 1950s about a wife who takes care of her old mother-inlaw while her husband is in prison for political reasons. The film was awarded the Jury Prize and the actors received a Special Mention. Törőcsik appeared in several of Makk’s films, including ‘Cat’s Play’ (1974), which also had its international premiere in Cannes and went on to get nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Törőcsik remained active in both cinema and theatre throughout the following decades, appearing in movies such as ‘Forbidden Relations’ (1983), ‘The Outpost’ (1995) and ‘Long Twilight’ (1997). In 2002 she resumed her post at the National Theatre company and continued to work, even after recuperating from a serious illness in 2008. Her most recent film role is in Márta Mészáros’ ‘Aurora Borealis’, which will be coming out later this year. Bori Bujdosó

photo by Noémi Bruzák / MTI

60 Years in Motion Q&A with György Ráduly, the director of Hungarian National Film Archive What items currently belong to the Hungarian National Film Archive’s collection? Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the National Film Archive is a public collection responsible for more than 70 000 films, from the shots of the Lumière brothers made in Budapest in 1896 to the films made in recent times. The archive includes more than 10 000 newsreels, documentaries, animation films, shorts and private and commercial films, as well as over 300 000 film-related photos, 30 000 film posters and a vast number of costumes and set designs. And the collection just continues to increase. A few years ago the long-lost copy of Michael Curtiz’s very early film ‘The Undesirable’ was found in the cellar of the Hungarian house in New York; its restoration as well as its national and international distribution was sponsored by the Hungarian Film Fund. Earlier this year, the Amsterdam EYE Film Museum traced a missing Hungarian film from 1914 (‘Munkászubbony’/‘Worker’s Coat’), the only surviving film to feature one of the most outstanding theatre and film actors of the time. A film about the coronation of the last Habsburg ruler, Charles IV, in Budapest in 1917 has also just been completed in collaboration with the Hungarian National Museum; on identifying the participants frame by frame, we spotted Mihály Kertész (Michael Curtiz) looking into the camera. What are the archive’s tasks? The principal tasks of the film archive include the promotion of film education with regard to Hungarian and universal film culture and the preservation and publication of national film heritage. As the latter necessarily implies an ongoing and scheduled digitalisation of the collection, in January we launched a 10-

year programme to digitally remaster the most significant products in Hungarian film history, scheduling the restoration of 30 feature films a year. Due to the programme being carried out, both the publication and the commercial utilisation of the films will be enhanced. For the sake of safe preservation and quick and efficient distribution, our digital data-preservation system, celluloid storing capacity and database must be developed. This is currently under way. What is on this year’s schedule? The Film Archive, as a new division of Hungarian National Film Fund is focusing on the oeuvre of Zoltán Fábri, one of the greatest figures of Hungarian filmmaking. Three of his films have participated in the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival, he was nominated twice for an Academy Award and he won the Silver Bear in Berlin. His recently restored film ‘Merry-Go-Round’ has been selected for this year’s Cannes Classics, making it the third consecutive year that a Hungarian film fostered by the National Film Archive features in this category. Based on international cooperation, there will also be a Márta Mészáros retrospective at MOMA, and we are cooperating with the Amsterdam EYE Film Museum to remaster and publish Michael Curtiz’s film ‘Last Dawn’. Thanks to our collaboration with Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation and with L’Immagina Ritrovata in Bologna, an early film by André de Toth (‘Two Girls on the Street’) was screened in April at this year’s FIAF congress in Los Angeles. A festival of international film classics is also scheduled for the second half of the year to celebrate this significant anniversary. HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

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 AURORA BOREALIS - Northern Light / Aurora Borealis - Északi fény (Hu) drama / post-production

DIRECTED BY MÁRTA MÉSZÁROS PRODUCED BY ISTVÁN MAJOR, GÜL TOGAY / FILMTEAM “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, lying to her for years. But when her mother falls into a coma, Olga finds a mysterious photograph and starts to search for the truth. 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 has once again directed a film that examines a social taboo, this time exploring the story of children fathered by occupying Russian soldiers. An international cast includes iconoclastic Mari Törőcsik, who has collected awards for Best Actress in Cannes, Chicago, Karlovy Vary and Monte Carlo, alongside Ildikó Tóth, Franciska Törőcsik, Antonio de la Torre, Hary Prinz and Lesław Żurek.

BEING SOLOMON / Salamon király legendája (Hu/Il) animation-family / post-production

DIRECTED BY ALBERT HANAN KAMINSKI PRODUCED BY RÉKA TEMPLE / CINEMON STUDIO & EDEN PRODUCTIONS In this animation-feature, the ancient legends of King Solomon are humorously adapted for children with a contemporary and fresh overtone. The battles between the young Solomon and Asmodeus, the King of Evil, reveal the tension between a tyrannical thirst for power and humble humanity. In the second part of the film, via the quest for a magical creature, an initiation through power is replaced by a search for love. Princess Nama, the beautiful daughter of Salim, King of Petra, witnesses Solomon's wisdom and kindness and falls in love with him, unaware of his royal status. The cleansing of the infection that Asmodeus has spread over Jerusalem and the regaining of order in the kingdom, thanks to the cooperation of all humans and animals, allow a glorified victory of good over evil and, above all, the wedding between Solomon and Nama is a hopeful ending that celebrates the crossing of borders between religions, nations and identities.

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Coming Soon BUDAPEST NOIR (Hu) crime-thriller / post-production

DIRECTED BY ÉVA GÁRDOS PRODUCED BY ILDIKÓ KEMÉNY / PIONEER PICTURES Set in the politically troubled autumn of 1936, this story follows Zsigmond Gordon, a world-weary reporter asking unwanted questions about the seemingly unimportant murder of a young prostitute found beaten to death and dumped in a courtyard. While supposedly covering the funeral of Gyula Gömbös, the real-life fascist-leaning Prime Minister of Hungary, Gordon’s investigation leads him deep into the city’s dark underbelly – a shady world of pornographers, fixers, all-night “smokers”, boxing rings, seedy brothels, powerful crime syndicates and communist cells – all the way to the highest echelons of power, where one of Hungary’s most influential business figures plans to make a fortune through his political ties with Germany’s leadership – as long as he can somehow keep secret the fact that he is of Jewish heritage. Originally published in 2008, the novel ‘Budapest Noir’ proved popular with both the public and critics, becoming an instant bestseller, which sparked several sequels. It has gone on to appear in numerous languages around the world.

THE BUTCHER, THE WHORE AND THE ONE-EYED MAN / A hentes, a kurva és a félszemu ´´ (Hu) crime / post-production

DIRECTED BY JÁNOS SZÁSZ PRODUCED BY ISTVÁN BODZSÁR / UNIO FILM 1925 saw a terrible scandal shake the city of Budapest. Ferenc Kudelka was slaughtered in his own abattoir, cut up, bundled into suitcases and carried through the city streets to be eventually dumped into the Danube. The gruesome crime was committed by a former gendarme by the name of Gusztáv Léderer and his ex-prostitute wife Mária Fekete in cold blood but in an atrociously amateur fashion. Kudelka the butcher falls passionately in love with the wife of the former gendarme, with the assistance and full knowledge of her husband: he is able to spend hours of pleasure with the man’s wife in return for a small fee. Driven by greed, the Léderer couple – after two failed attempts – eventually succeed in killing Ferenc Kudelka. The film shows the perilous decline of three individuals as they are sucked into a world of sinful existence. It is the story of a wild and voracious love triangle. Related with brutal truth and raw realism, it tells a tale of meat, amour and maniacal murder.

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Coming Soon GENESIS (Hu)

drama / post-production DIRECTED BY ÁRPÁD BOGDÁN PRODUCED BY ANDREA TASCHLER / MIRAGE FILM & GÁBOR FERENCZY / FOCUS-FOX The three stories within ‘Genesis’ explore the notion of family: a woman in her late thirties rediscovers the faith she lost as a child; a mother goes to extreme lengths to ensure that her daughter is saved from the fate she was forced to endure; a Roma boy’s family is killed and the perfect world of his childhood is destroyed. All three stories are linked together by coincidence, and these meetings will change the lives of the characters.

GYPSY IN SPACE / Lajkó cigány az ´u´ rben (Hu) comedy / post-production

DIRECTED BY BALÁZS LENGYEL PRODUCED BY FERENC PUSZTAI / KMH FILM This black comedy allows us to learn that the first living being in space was not actually a dog called Lajka but a Hungarian crop sprayer by the name of Lajkó. We discover that, in early 1957, the Soviet Union decides to give Hungary the honour of providing the first cosmonaut to orbit in space. The most suitable candidate turns out to be none other than Lajos Serbán, known to all as Lajkó, whose life as a pilot reflects his lifelong attraction to the stars and the unexplored infinity of space. When he is eventually selected for this daring mission, he has little notion of the fact that it is not by chance that his dreams are to come true…

HIER / Tegnap (Hu-Fr-Nl-De-Se-Mo) (Hu) 1st feature drama / post-production

DIRECTED BY BÁLINT KENYERES PRODUCED BY ANDREA TASCHLER / MIRAGE FILM The central character, 50-year-old Victor Ganz, owns a thriving building and civil engineering company that operates worldwide. Some very costly problems on a building site in North Africa mean that he has to go (he hates travelling) to a country where he is confronted with memories of his youth, which have been carefully buried in the depths of his mind. Meetings in ministries, disinformation, the reappearance of a past love who had mysteriously disappeared and an investigation in the local underground to find her: Victor Ganz slowly plunges into a labyrinthine world where present and past intertwine.

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Coming Soon HIS MASTER’S VOICE / Az Úr hangja (Hu/Ca) sci-fi / post-production

DIRECTED BY GYÖRGY PÁLFI PRODUCED BY FERENC PUSZTAI / KMH FILM & QUIET REVOLUTION PICTURES Based on the Stanisław Lem novel, ‘His Master’s Voice’ tells the story of a thirty-something Hungarian journalist who has never met his father, who defected to the United States in the seventies and disappeared. However, himself on the brink of founding a family, he decides to travel to the States to find him. As a scientist, the father worked in a research group which examined “voices” from space in search of evidence of extraterrestrial intelligent life. This new film by Pálfi (‘Hukkle’, ‘Taxidermia’, ‘Free Fall’) aims to address the question of whether we are alone in the world, on both the universal and the individual levels.

PAPPA PIA (Hu)

musical-comedy / post-production DIRECTED BY GÁBOR CSUPÓ PRODUCED BY ATTILA TŐZSÉR / FOCUS-FOX Papi is the world’s dodgiest pensioner, with only a winning smile to offer by way of payment. With nowhere to live, he sets up home in a boathouse on the banks of the Danube. No sooner is he settled than Wizy, his neighbour and the owner of a flashy discotheque, sets his sights on Papi’s home, which he wants to turn into a stunning nightspot. Far from being phased but with little idea of what to do, the old fella seeks assistance from his grandson Tomi. The kid is a little less dodgy than his grandpa, but with plenty more charm, and is keen to call on his mates to lend a hand. This gang of hapless hopefuls takes on the might of Wizy and his thugs and attempts the impossible: to temporarily transform the boathouse into a ruin pub to collect the cash they need to survive. Their hopes are large and their chances are few – but in a romantic comedy such as this, where everyone is a musician and/or in love, anything can happen. And at least that gives us the chance to listen to a whole stack of oldies but goodies…

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Coming Soon THE SEVENTH HALBERDIER / Hetedik alabárdos (Hu) 1st feature drama / post-production DIRECTED BY CSABA VÉKES PRODUCED BY GÁBOR HERENDI / SKYFILM PRODUCTION This film examines the career of an unsuccessful actor who suddenly finds himself pulled from the wings to become the leading stage director in a theatre, where he struggles to achieve his own dreams and battles to keep the company together. Set in the world of modern theatrical life, this satire, due to its very nature, has a certain sense of the surreal. “This story was inspired by 13 years spent working in theatre and is built from my own experiences, imagination and stifled aspirations. Spend this long in the profession and you soon see the viciousness beyond the velvet. The ‘temple of culture’ provides the perfect setting for sharp satire with a complex cast of charismatic characters from the all-powerful porter to the back-office harpies. That’s the story I want to tell.” Csaba Vékes

SINISTER SHADOW / Rossz árnyék (Hu) drama / post-production

DIRECTED BY ANDRÁS JELES PRODUCED BY ANDRÁS MUHI, GÁBOR FERENCZY / FOCUS-FOX Widely known and respected for his earlier works, ‘The First Fling’ (1979), ‘Dream Brigade’ (1983), ‘The Annunciation’ (1984), ‘Why Wasn't He There?’ (1993) and ‘Joseph and his Brothers’ (2003), writer-director András Jeles’ 'Sinister Shadow' promises to reach beyond events and present us with a clear view of the world in all its complexity. The leading characters are a young man with special abilities and his restorer father. The central motif of this symbolic film is an emblematic work, ‘The Ambassadors’, painted by the Renaissance artist Hans Holbein the Younger, of which the restorer is commissioned by his friend to produce a perfect replica. The masterpiece slowly reveals its hidden messages as we learn that reproducing an artwork of such astounding quality is not only the ultimate test of his painterly ability but also a journey of discovery that sheds a bright light on his life to date and presents us with a terrifying question.

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Coming Soon TROUPERS / Vándorszínészek (Hu) drama / post-production

DIRECTED BY PÁL SÁNDOR PRODUCED BY PÁL SÁNDOR / FILMSTREET Set in the early 1800s and 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 trudges along 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 a rickety round-top wagon.

THE WHISKY ROBBER / A Viszkis (Hu) crime / post-production

DIRECTED BY NIMRÓD ANTAL PRODUCED BY TAMÁS HUTLASSA / CAFÉ FILM Between 1993 and 1999, one man robbed 29 financial institutions in Budapest. Banks, post offices and even travel agencies fell victim to his crime spree. The police had no leads and no hope of finding him during his sixyear stint. The only clue left behind at the crime scenes was the distinct aroma of whisky. Which is why the media named him the ‘Whisky Robber’. Never physically harming anyone, many began to follow his escapades through the media and soon even started to root for him. His capture would only bring more intrigue. A Transylvanian immigrant who also happened to be a goalie for one of the city’s largest hockey teams, Attila Ambrus, was eventually identified as the ‘Whisky Robber’. The police had finally captured him... or so they thought.

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

New Films from

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

Feature Film

1945

#atfirstsight (#sohavégetneméro ´´ s)

93 min, 2017

90 min, 2016

Director: Ferenc Török Main cast: Péter Rudolf, Eszter Nagy-Kálózy, Tamás Szabó Kimmel, Bence Tasnádi Producers: Iván Angelusz, Péter Reich Production company: Katapult Film Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Director: Dániel Tiszeker Main cast: András Ötvös, Ákos Orosz, Dóra Sztarenki, Petra Hartai, Blanka Mészáros Producer: Balázs Lévai Production company: Színfolt Film Festivals, sales: levailexikon@gmail.com

On a sweltering August day in Hungary in 1945, villagers prepare for the wedding of the town clerk’s son. Meanwhile, two strangers arrive at the village train station with mysterious boxes labelled “fragrances”. The villagers are afraid that survivors will return, posing a threat to the properties and possessions they acquired during the war. Born in Budapest in 1971, director-screenwriter Ferenc Török is a prominent figure of the new generation of Hungarian filmmakers who are said to have appeared on the scene in 2000. After graduating from the Academy of Drama and Film and directing a number of successful shorts, Török made his first feature, the emblematic ‘Moscow Square’ (‘Moszkva tér’, 2001), which became one of the most important cult films after the regime change. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Miami Jewish Film Festival - Audience Award 2017 - San Diego Jewish Film Festival - In Competition 2017 - Berlin International Film Festival - Berlinale Panorama - In Competition 2017 - Budapest Titanic International Film Festival Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

This is an anthology film inspired by the lyrics of Hungary’s most popular contemporary music band, Wellhello. The title means “never ending”, which is a reference to the illusion of youth and love. The film tells six separate stories about the love and relationships of millennials in five different Hungarian cities. Each part has its special rules and unique way of visual storytelling. The cast consists of the new generation of young Hungarian theatre actors, and for most of them this is their big-screen debut. Dániel Tiszeker started his career as an assistant director and casting director after studying film history. After three documentaries, this is his first feature film.

Feature Film

BET ON REVENGE (Kincsem)

BRAZILS (Brazilok)

121 min, 2017

95 min, 2017

Director: Gábor Herendi Main cast: Ervin Nagy, Andrea Petrik, Tibor Gáspár Producers: Tamás Hutlassa, Gábor Herendi Production company: Café Film Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu

Directors: Csaba M. Kiss, Gábor Rohonyi Main cast: Erik Lakatos, Barnabás Bergendi, Dániel Viktor Nagy Producers: Mónika Mécs, Ernő Mesterházy Production company: M&M Film Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Hungarian aristocrat and supreme horse trainer Sándor Blaskovich is killed by his former friend, Austrian officer Otto von Oettingen, while arresting him for treason. von Oettingen takes over the Blaskovich castle with his young daughter Klára, while Sándor’s orphaned son Ernő has to move to a poor labourer’s cottage.

An ethno-tale with humour and tears. Chaos erupts among the Gypsy population of the town of Acsa when the mayor, urged by the new young priest of the village, announces that the Gypsy football team called “Brazils” can also take part in the football championship of the village. Thanks to a Brazilian millionaire originally from Acsa, the winning team will be invited to Rio de Janeiro. The championship begins. Events, emotions and anger take unpredictable directions. Those who end up winning were not supposed to win, and those who find love were not supposed to fall in love with each other.

Ernő cannot forgive von Oettingen for taking his father’s life, land and honour. Years later, he goes on to purchase and train a magnificent horse called Kincsem, which he believes will be his winning ticket to regaining the family home. The horse grows into an unbeatable champion but is wild and unruly just like the woman who also shows a keen interest in Kincsem: Klára von Oettingen.

Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Gábor Herendi was born in 1960. After several years working as a creative director for the advertising agency BBDO Hungary, Herendi started his own commercial production company, Skyfilm Studio, in 1991. After 10 years and over 500 commercial spots, he decided to direct his first feature film, ‘A Kind of America’ (‘Valami Amerika’, 2001). Herendi is the winner of many awards, including the Highest Cinema Admissions Award, which he has received three times. Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Film

THE CARER (Jutalomjáték)

THE CITIZEN (Az állampolgár)

89 min, 2015

108 min, 2016

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

Director: Roland Vranik Main cast: Dr. Marcelo Cake-Baly, Ági Máhr, Arghavan Shekari Producers: Károly Fehér, Csaba Tóth Production company: Popfilm Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Theatrical legend Sir Michael Gifford is terminally ill. He is 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, János Edelényi joined Hungarian television. His work with György Fehér on ‘Richard II’, ‘Richard III’ and ‘Volpone’ was seen as groundbreaking and the pair were awarded the Grand Prize twice, the Prize For Best Photography and the Best TV Adaptation Prize. In 2009, he co-wrote and directed the multiaward-winning ‘Prima Primavera’, a Hungarian-Bulgarian-Dutch-British feature. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Palm Springs International Film Festival – Best of Fest Selection 2016 - Edinburgh International Film Festival Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Wilson is a 57-year-old African refugee who wants to become Hungarian but repeatedly fails the citizenship test. He falls in love with his tutor, Mari, who preps him for his next exam. Their feelings are mutual; Mari leaves her family and moves in with Wilson. His life seems to be on track; he might finally become a Hungarian citizen and settle down. Meanwhile, an illegal immigrant appears at his doorstep and Wilson helps to hide him. He has to make a decision: either he remains loyal to his fellow migrant or chooses a secure, happy European life. Wilson makes a choice. After graduating in 1987, Roland Vranik became a member of the Positive Production Workshop in Budapest. He directed movies in the Netherlands and participated in productions produced by students of the Dutch Film Academy. His first feature film, entitled ‘Black Brush’, was made in 2005 and won the main prize of the Hungarian Film Week. Vranik previously worked as Béla Tarr’s first assistant director. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Stockholm International Film Festival - Impact Award nominee 2017 - Porto Fantasporto - Best Screenplay 2017 - San Jose Cinequest - Best Drama 2017 - Den Haag Movies That Matter Students' Choice Award 2017 - Vienna LET'S CEE Film Festival - In Competition Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Film

COYOTE (Kojot) 1

feature

127 min, 2017 Director: Márk Kostyál Cast: András Mészáros, Mária Dobra, László Mátray, Attila Bocsárszky, Levente Orbán, Frigyes Kovács, Gabriella Szabó, Lehel Salat Producers: Gábor Kálomista, Dorottya Helmeczy Production company: Megafilm Ltd. Festivals: kati.vajda@filmlmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu, orr.krisztina@filmalap.hu Sultry heat, dinginess, unspoken social problems and hierarchical infighting. This is the town of Tűzkő, somewhere in present-day Hungary. This is where Misi arrives to inherit his grandfather’s house and property. Misi is a disillusioned and frustrated young man who is constantly on the run and does not find his place in the world, in work or in relationships. He commits himself to rebuilding the house with some of his friends, which disrupts the interests of the local leaders. Serious struggles ensue for the land, for love and for life. Misi transforms into a coyote in all respects. This is a real Eastern with extraordinary imagery. Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

IT’S NOT THE TIME OF MY LIFE (Ernelláék Farkaséknál) 81 min, 2016 Director: Szabolcs Hajdu Cast: Szabolcs Hajdu, Orsolya Török-Illyés, Erika Tankó, Domokos Szabó, Lujza Hajdu, Zsigmond Hajdu Producers: Daniel Herner, Gábor Ferenczy, András Muhi, Zsófia Muhi Production company: Filmworks Festivals, sales: ceo@filmworks.hu Eszter, her husband Farkas and their five-year-old son Bruno are paid an unexpected visit in the middle of the night. Eszter’s sister Ernella, her husband Albert and their daughter Laura have returned from a year spent in Scotland where, contrary to expectations, they were not able to settle down. It soon becomes clear that the two families have never really gotten along with one another. Hajdu presents an uncompromising, intimate study of two families thrown together by circumstance to temporarily share an unusual apartment. Szabolcs Hajdu is a Hungarian screenwriter, actor, film and theatre director and teacher. Since 2000 he has made seven feature films, most of which have been premiered and awarded at the biggest international festivals, such as Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and Karlovy Vary. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (World Premiere) - Crystal Globe Award Winner, Best Actor (Szabolcs Hajdu) 2016 - Cottbus International Film Festival Best Direction 2016 - International Bosphorus Film Festival Best Feature Film, Best Editing

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Film

JUPITER'S MOON (Jupiter holdja)

JUST DROP DEAD (Halj már meg!)

122 min, 2017

105 min, 2016

Director: Kornél Mundruczó Main cast: Merab Ninidze, György Cserhalmi, Zsombor Jéger, Móni Balsai Producers: Viktória Petrányi, Viola Fügen, Michael Weber Production company: Proton Cinema, Match Factory Productions Festivals, sales: info@matchfactory.de

Director: Zoltán Kamondi Main cast: Adél Kováts, Eszter Ónodi, Alma Virág Pájer, Eszter Csákányi, Géza D. Hegedűs, György Cserhalmi, Mari Törőcsik, Gábor Koncz, Ákos Kőszegi, Zoltán Mucsi, János Kulka Producers: Gábor Ferenczy, Attila Tőzsér Production company: Focusfox & Honeymood Production Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu, orr.krisztina@filmalap.hu

A young immigrant is shot down while illegally crossing the border. Terrified and in shock, wounded Aryan can now mysteriously levitate at will. Thrown into a refugee camp, he is smuggled out by Dr Stern, who is intent on exploiting his extraordinary secret. Pursued by the enraged camp director László, the fugitives remain on the move in search of safety and money. Inspired by Aryan’s amazing powers, Stern takes a leap of faith in a world where miracles are trafficked for small change… Kornél Mundruczó is a Hungarian screenwriter, film and theatre director and founder of Proton Cinema and Proton Theatre. His cinematic works have received international acclaim. Among numerous nominations and awards, his 2014 film ‘White God’ won him the Un Certain Regard Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Cannes International Film Festival In Competition

Following the sudden death of a mysterious train driver in his sixties, the Wife, the Lover, the 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 who was truly loved by him and where he hid the fantastic fruits of his double life. In their deadly struggle, our heroes find themselves at the centre of a satirical criminal comedy, the sinful roots of which stretch back to the eighties, the closing decade of the socialist era. The film had its premiere at the 2016 Cairo International Film Festival. Zoltán Kamondi was a Hungarian film and theatre director, actor, screenwriter and producer. He directed several award-winning shorts and feature films. In 2003, he was awarded the Balázs Béla Prize. Kamondi died on 17 March 2016 at the age of 55. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Cairo International Film Festival Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Film

KILLS ON WHEELS (Tiszta szívvel)

LOOP (Hurok) 1

105 min, 2016

95 min, 2016

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 Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Director: Isti Madarász Main cast: Dénes Száraz, Dorina Martinovics, Zsolt Anger, Géza D. Hegedűs Producer: Tamás Hutlassa Production company: Café Film Festivals: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

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

‘Loop’ is a time-twist thriller where the ideas of beginning and end very quickly merge. Adam loses his pregnant girlfriend in an accident but is soon presented with a series of chances to correct his mistakes that led to her death. However, a new opportunity does not necessarily mean a clean slate, as Adam is forced to face the complicated repercussions of his earlier decisions while trying to keep his girlfriend alive.

But things are not what they seem. The boundaries between reality and fiction blur and the story becomes a whirling kaleidoscope of gangsters and gunfights, but also of 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 recognised in a number of categories and won the Best Main Actress award. In 2011, Till’s short film ‘Beast’ won several international awards, including the Silver Dragon Prize for Best Fiction Film at the Krakow Film Festival and the Bronze Horse for Best Short Film at the Stockholm Film Festival, as well as being selected for the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section at the Cannes Film Festival.

feature

Isti Madarász (1976), director and writer, started his career in 2006 with the short film ‘Előbb-utóbb’, which was selected for the Valladolid International Film Festival and won the Golden Spike Award for Best Short Film. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Cairo International Film Festival Panorama Section 2017 - Porto Fantasporto - In Competition 2017 - San Jose Cinequest - In Competition 2017 - Febiofest - In Competition Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Festivals and awards: 2016 - Chicago International Film Festival Roger Ebert Award 2016 - Cottbus International Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize, Ecumenical Award 2016 - Thessaloniki International Film Festival Best Film 2017 - Vienna LET'S CEE Film Festival - Best Film 2017 - Hungarian Film Week - Hungarian Film Award For Best Screenplay, Hungarian Film Award For Best Actor, Hungarian Film Award For Best Supporting Actor, Hungarian Film Award For Best Make-Up, Hungarian Film Award For Best Sound Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Film

ON BODY AND SOUL (Testro ´´ l és lélekro ´´ l)

OUT

116 min, 2017

83 min, 2017

Director: Ildikó Enyedi Main cast: Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider Producers: Mónika Mécs, András Muhi, Ernő Mesterházy Production company: Inforg - M&M Film Kft. Festivals: louis@filmsboutique.com Sales: emma@filmsboutique.com

Director: György Kristóf Main cast: Sándor Terhes Producers: Marek Urban, Ferenc Pusztai, Jiri Konecny, Andrea Tashler, Nándor Lovas Production company: Sentimentalfilm (SK), Endorfilm (CZ), KMH Film (HU), Mirage Film (HU) Festivals, sales: sebastien@cercamon.biz

By complete chance, two introverts find out that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous and a bit frightened. As they hesitantly accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate what happens in their dream in broad daylight.

Ágoston, a family man in his fifties, sets off to wander through eastern Europe in the hope of finding a job and fulfilling his dream of catching a big fish. In the Baltics he finds himself with nothing but seasalt and wind at his neck. The journey whirls him deeper and deeper into the sea of bizarre events to meet a tall friendly woman, a Russian friend with unfriendly intentions and a sad stuffed rabbit with no ears. Waves spread over the sand and flow slowly backwards. A new wave arrives to sweep the previous one away. This is where the sea ends, but by no means where it begins.

Ildikó Enyedi has written and directed five feature films and several shorts, for which she has won more than forty international prizes. She is also a member of the European Film Academy. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Berlinale International Film Festival Golden Bear, FIPRESCI Prize, Ecumenical Jury Prize, Berliner Morgenpost’s Reader Jury Prize 2017 - Hong Kong International Film Festival In Competition Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

György Kristóf worked as an assistant director before he met Ildikó Enyedi, who became his first mentor. In 2008 he started his film studies at FAMU in Prague. He directed short films that have been invited to over 50 festivals and have won several awards. After finishing his BA studies in 2011, he moved to Latvia for a year and worked as a director for TV commercials. He returned to FAMU to study his MA degree and finished his first feature film, ‘Out’. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard Section Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Film

THE PERFECT MURDERER (A tökéletes gyilkos)

STRANGLED (A martfu ´´ i rém)

99 min, 2017

Director: Árpád Sopsits Main cast: Péter Bárnai, Károly Hajduk, Zsolt Anger, Gábor Jászberényi, Zsolt Trill, Zsófia Szamosi, Mónika Balsai Producers: Gábor Ferenczy, Attila Tőzsér Production company: Focus Fox Studio Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu

Director: József Pacskovszky Main cast: Nóra Lili Hőrich, Tamás Szabó Kimmel, Győző Szabó, Tibor Szervét, Gábor Nagypál Producer: Jenő Hábermann Production company: FilmArt Kft. Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu As head of the homicide squad, Kamenár is called to the scene of a brutal killing. The prime suspect is Petra, who also happens to be a former friend of his daughter who lost her life in tragic circumstances. The detective is convinced that Petra had a hand in the girl’s death. Hungry for revenge, he does everything within his power to catch the girl, who unexpectedly comes to him seeking protection and protesting her innocence in both cases. Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

118 min, 2016

An innocent man who spends 10 years in prison for something he never did. A serial killer at large who almost gets away with his crime. A prosecutor who demands the death sentence for the innocent man and later tries to prevent the truth from being revealed. An investigator who is finally obliged to conduct investigations against himself. And another investigator who is obsessed with justice... This is the story of these people and their families, intertwined in three timelines and presented in a psychological thriller in the unique atmosphere of rural Hungary in the 1950s and 1960s. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Warsaw International Film Festival In Competition 2016 - Cairo International Film Festival 2017 - Hungarian Film Week - Hungarian Film Award For Best Film, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Make-Up, Best Production Design, Best Original Music, Best Actress 2017 - Beaune Festival Du Film Policier - In Competition 2017 - Liege Policier IFF - Audience Award Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Film

THAT TRIP WE TOOK WITH DAD (Utazás apánkkal)

WELL (Kút)

111 min, 2016

Director: Attila Gigor Cast: Péter Jankovics, Niké Kurta, Roland Tzafetás, Csaba Horváth, Nóra Trokán, Lia Pokorny, Zsolt László, Dorottya Udvaros, Irma Milovic, Ferenc Pusztai Producer: Ferenc Pusztai Production company: KMH Film Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu

Director: Anca Miruna Lăzărescu Main cast: Alex Mărgineanu, Răzvan Enciu, Ovidiu Schumacher, Susanne Bormann, Manuel Klein, Doru Ana, Marcela Nistor Producers: David Lindner Leporda, Verona Maier Co-producers: Cătălin Mitulescu, Andrea Taschler, Daniel Mitulescu, Nándor Lovas, Fredrik Zander, Jessica Ask Production companies: Filmallee, Mirage Film, Strada Film, The Chimney Pot Sverige AB, Film I Vast Festivals: david@filmallee.com Sales: Gábor Csurdi - A Company Hungary Kft. ‘That Trip we Took with Dad’ is a moving story set in a turbulent year - 1968. The Prague Spring sets the scene, when a German family from Arad (Romania) – two very different brothers and their father - start a journey towards the GDR. There, the older brother hopes his weary father can get surgery in order to restore the family harmony. But after crossing the East German border, their return is closed by Soviet tanks moving into the CSSR. Suddenly the family finds itself in West Germany and our protagonists are faced with a universal question: how much do you sacrifice to be reunited with your family? Anca Lăzărescu’s graduation film, the Filmallee production ‘Silent River’ ('Apele Tac'), had its premiere in the international competition of the 2011 Berlinale Shorts and has since been invited to over 300 international festivals, winning more than 80 awards. The Romanian Film Academy named Lăzărescu the “Upcoming Talent” and awarded her film Best Romanian Short in March 2012. Her documentary film, ‘One Day Today will be Once’, won at the Syracuse International Film Festival and has also been invited to different international festivals. Lăzărescu’s affection for subjects like the East-West conflict and for themes such as immigration and the outsider in a community are influenced by her own background, having been born and raised in a country with its own share of identity issues, if not an inferiority complex. Lăzărescu is a member of the Romanian and European film academies. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Jameson CineFest - CICAE Award of the Confederation of Art Cinema 2016 - KINOdisea Film Festival - New Discovery Award, Best Youth Film Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

95 min, 2016

At a petrol station in the middle of nowhere, a young man arrives to meet his father he has not seen for 30 years. On the same day a van with four prostitutes on the way to Switzerland breaks down at the very same petrol station. The three days the characters spend together will change their lives forever. Attila Gigor gained major recognition with his debut feature, ‘The Investigator’. He is also known as the writer and director of the HBO hit series ‘In Treatment’. Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Feature Documentary

50 MORE MINUTES (Magyar csapat - “...még 50 perc…”)

CONTEMPORARY LOVE (Helló, szia, csókolom!)

72 min, 2016

50 min, 2015

Director: András Pires Muhi Cast: Sándor Egervári, Pál Dárdai, Bernd Storck, the players of the Hungarian national football team (2012-2016) Producer: Gábor Kovács Production company: Filmpartners Festivals, sales: gabor.kovacs@filmpartners.hu

Director: Kata Oláh Cast: Olga Mária Haraszti, János Orsós, Magdolna Ibolya Földi, János Lovas, Dr. Benedek Pálvölgyi, Karolina Kézdi, Mex Deluxe Producer: Gyula Németh Production company: TV COM Kft. Festivals, sales: Kata Oláh 1kataolah1@gmail.com This is a film about the desired love of the young and the elderly. Set in Budapest, both during the day and at night, looking both happily and sorrowfully at the fate of a number of people. We follow Mex - one of the most well-known pick-up trainers in Hungary - and his students. We also get an insight into the new affairs of the elderly that started at dance clubs for pensioners. Kata Oláh started to work in the television and film industry as a producer. She worked for television channels producing game shows before becoming the head of communications at the Hungarian National Film Fund. She has also worked as a local producer for international films and for a few years she hosted a cultural TV talk show. During the last few years she has started to direct documentary films and popular science miniseries. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

This documentary reveals the journey of the Hungarian national football team on their quest to qualify for the European Championship. The story is portrayed through an honest lens and includes behind-the-scenes footage that has never been seen before. András Pires Muhi was born in Budapest in 1984. An ex-footballer himself, he cares a lot about the game. ‘50 more minutes’ is his second documentary about Hungarian football. He mainly works as a producer.

SOUL EXODUS 92 min, 2016 Director: Csaba Bereczki Main cast: Daniel Kahn, Bob Cohen, Michael Alpert, Jake Shulman-Ment, Psoy Korolenko Producer: Pál Sándor Production company: Film Street Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu Once upon a time at the beginning of the 20th century there lived a klezmer musician and storyteller, Prince Nazaroff. Many people refuse to believe that he ever existed, but five 21st-century young and not-so-young men do. They have imagined him, and imagination can be so much stronger than reality. To this day, Nazaroff lives in them. They cannot accept that something could disappear forever. They call themselves “The Brothers Nazaroff”. Told through klezmer music, this is a deeply emotional and modern story about identity and kinship, emigration and inner emigration, brothers and godbrothers, religion and faith, belief and disbelief.

Festivals and awards: 2016 - Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival - Official Selection 2017 – Krakow Film Festival Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Feature Documentary

TITITÁ (A zene felemel)

WHAT A CIRCUS! (Mi ez a cirkusz?)

85 min (TV version: 54 min), 2015

85 min, 2017

Director: Tamás Almási Main cast: Antal Kuru, Ferenc Snétberger Producers: Tamás Almási, Julianna Ugrin Production companies: Filmdimenzió Kft., A Zene Felemel Kft. Festivals: marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu

Director: Glória Halász Co-Director: Dániel Tiszeker Main cast: The Recirquel Company Producer: Gábor Osváth Production company: Filmfabriq, Fanatics Film Festivals, sales: info@filmfabriq.hu

Anti is a 17-year-old Roma boy who lives in a slum deep in the Hungarian countryside. Along with 60 other Roma youth, Anti is passionate about playing the guitar, which earns the group the opportunity to attend the Snétberger Music Talent Centre. Does Anti have the ability to change what feels like a predestined life and make the most of a golden opportunity? This film is a fulllength documentary about struggle and hope, and also introduces the excellent work of the Snétberger Music Talent Centre. Festivals and awards: 2015 - Sarajevo Film Festival - Special Jury Prize 2016 - Lagów International Film Festival In Competition 2016 - Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Balancing between reality and fiction, ‘What a Circus!’ is an intimate documentary about Recirquel, a contemporary circus company based in Budapest. The film’s crew followed the company for years, including during the rehearsals of their latest show. Between the sweats and tears, we see the performers’ dreams and fears come to life in spectacular scenes of stunts in suburban settings. Glória Halász previously directed the documentaries ‘Iron Curtain’, about the members of the Vác City Prison Theatre, and ‘Dr. Lala’, about a clown doctor that gained the award for Best Documentary at the Opuzen Film Festival in Croatia and at the Jameson CineFest, the Miskolc International Film Festival, in Hungary. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

TV Drama

DEMIMONDE (Félvilág)

THE GREY WAR (Szürke senkik)

88 min, 2015

64 min, 2016

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

Director: István Kovács Main cast: József S. Kovács, Zsolt Trill, László Keszég, Levente Molnár, Björn Freiberg Producer: Tamás Lajos Production company: Film Positive Productions Festivals, sales: Film Positive Productions +36 1 238 0200

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: 2015 - Montreal World Film Festival - Nominated for the Grand Prix des Amériques 2016 - Nashville Film Festival - 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), Best Cinematography (András Nagy)

Set in 1918, ‘The Grey War’ tells the story of five Austrian-Hungarian soldiers on a daring mission behind enemy lines. Led by Sergeant Fodor and accompanied by a pigeon named Noah, Kramer, Radu, Molnár and The Kid fight their way through the Italian mountains while questioning the reason for their mission. István Kovács, born in 1985 in a Hungarian minority in former Yugoslavia, spent most of his youth in the southern Hungarian town of Szeged. He enrolled in the University of Theatre and Film Arts of Budapest in 2011, where he recently received his Director BA degree in János Szász’s class. His graduation movie, ‘The Sound of Concrete’, screened at festivals including Montreal, Camerimage, Asia and Cairo. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

TV Documentary

MOTHER’S IMPRINT (Beágyazott emlékeink)

ULTRA

71 min, 2017

81 min, 2017

Director: Kata Oláh Producer: Sándor Csukás Production company: TV Com - Makabor Studio Festivals, sales: 1kataolah1@gmail.com

Director: Balázs Simonyi Producers: László Józsa, Balázs Simonyi, Hanka Kastelicova, Anna Zavorszky, Rea Apostolides and Yuri Averof Production companies: Speak Easy Project, HBO Europe, Anemon Productions Festivals, sales: cat@catndocs.com, maelle@catndocs.com

This is the story of an Eastern European woman, my mother, born in 1940. Through the kaleidoscope of her painful memories, narrated in sentences, timeless pains open up and reveal events that we have never heard before. The difficult times of the communism, of the revolution in 1956 and of the regime change in 1989 have left their mark on her life and soul, deepening her lost identity. Her only grandson is the first in the family to find a connection to the belief of his great-grandparents. As a messenger of the ancestors, he can help his grandmother, our mother, to remember. Kata Oláh has always worked in the film industry, but it was only five years ago that she started to focus on directing. This is her first feature-length documentary film.

How far do you have to go to get close to yourself? Punctuated with humour, ‘ULTRA’ tells a touching human drama about a mateur runners and their universe of cathartic self-discoveries, voluntary suffering and hypnotic state of mind. A real first-hand experience, hearts and mind o f everyday athletes. Balázs Simonyi (1980, Budapest) graduated in literature and film and is currently completing his PhD in art theory. His films have been screened at major festivals, from Cannes and Karlovy Vary to Cracow and from Aspen and St. Louis to Seattle and Vancouver.

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

THE VIRTUOSO (A virtuóz)

WOMEN’S REBELLION (Asszonyok lázadása)

52 min, 2016

72 min, 2016

Director: Attila Kékesi Producer: Miklós Havas Production company: Habana Media Festivals: habanamedia@gmail.com Sales: dudas.viktor@mtva.hu

Director: István Kovács Producer: Tamás Lajos Co-producer: Gábor Osváth Production company: Szupermodern Stúdió Festivals, sales: Szupermodern Stúdió

Georges Cziffra was without a doubt one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the 20th century. Born and raised in a poor suburb of Budapest, he learned to play the piano at the age of five as an autodidact and, at the age of eight, was the youngest student ever to be admitted to the Academy of Music of Budapest. For twenty years, he made a living working as a pianist in a bar. He was also imprisoned by the Communist regime. By taking a walk through a life that was full of twists, this film shows how a prodigy could become the greatest virtuoso of the 20th century.

Tresnjevac (Oromhegyes), Serbia, 1992. The women of a village inhabited by Hungarians decide not to allow their husbands to go to war. They organise a resistance and found an ‘intellectual liberal republic’ in the local pub called Zitzer Club.

Attila Kékesi is a Béla Balázs award-winning Hungarian documentary director. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

István Kovács was born in 1985 in a Hungarian minority in former Yugoslavia, but spent most of his youth in the southern Hungarian town of Szeged. He enrolled in the University of Theatre and Film Arts of Budapest in 2011, where he was recently awarded his Director BA degree in János Szász’s class. His graduation movie, ‘The Sound of Concrete’, screened at festivals including Montreal, Camerimage and Cairo. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Educational Documentary

THE KUNSÁG - THE SECRET LIFE OF THE HUNGARIAN PUSZTA (Vad Kunság - A Puszta rejtett élete)

THE LIFE AND TIME OF JÓZSEF BÉRES (Béres József életútja)

52 min, 2016

Director: Barna Kabay Producer: Barna Kabay Production company: CinemaStar Kft Festivals, sales: info@cinemastar.hu

Director: Szabolcs Mosonyi Producer: Erika Bagladi Production company: NatFilm Hungary 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. However, the Great Hungarian Plain is different; it has a secret life. During the breeding season, male great bustards hustle and push each other on the endless pastures. In spring and autumn, the migrating birds make the white salty lakes look like big, crowded airports. As it was being hunted, the golden jackal had to learn to become invisible, but has since returned. It wanders alone before finding a mate, and rears its pups to form a pack of its own. In the frosty night the new pack wails together, “This is our land, our empire”.

50 min, 2015

This documentary recounts the strenuous and difficult life of Dr. József Béres Sr., the inventor of Béres Drops, whose perseverance, diligence, patriotic sentiment and moral strength set an example for us and fortify our belief that we can rise from even the most desperate situations. Barna Kabay has worked as a director and a producer on a long list of feature films, youth films and series in collaboration with the largest European television companies and foundations. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

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

A SOLDIER’S TALE (Katonatörténet) 52 min, 2015 Director: Zsuzsa Katona Producer: Fruzsina Skrabski Production company: Becsengettünk Production Company Festivals, sales: asterfilm@gmail.com Noemi Katona, a 28-year-old student, found the diary of her grandfather from the Second World War. The journal relates a soldier’s everyday life in the Hungarian army between December 1944 and October 1945. It is about American and French captivity, the reality of the war, humiliation, comradeship, faith and the struggle for survival. Noemi started to pass between the Hungarian village of Mihályfa and the German municipality of Bretzenheim, in Bad Kreuznach, to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather’s diary. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Hungarian Film Week - Official Programme 2016 - AVANCA Film Festival - Official Competition 2016 - Mediawave - Online Competition Programme Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Short Documentary

THE HAPPIEST BARRACK (A legvidámabb barakk)

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE TWO BALLERINAS (Volt egyszer két balerina)

16 min, 2017

25 min, 2016

Director: Noémi Varga Producer: Boglárka Emília Gacsályi Festivals, sales: hello@noemivarga.com

Director: Linda Dombrovszky Producer: Linda Dombrovszky Production company: Stúdió 42/B Festivals, sales: dombrovszky@gmail.com

‘The Happiest Barrack’ is an experimental documentary, a chronicle of my maternal grandmother’s life in communist Hungary. It serves as a memento of times past and as a reminder of how socialism colonised the souls of a generation. Noémi Varga is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Art, where she specialised in Moving Image. She is currently working on her first feature-length documentary about the rise and fall of the “Hungarian pope of fashion”, Tamás Király. Festivals and awards: 2017 - London Short Film Festival – Best Short Documentary 2017 - International Film Festival Rotterdam - British Council Travel Grant 2017 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival 2017 - goEast Festival - Open Frame Award Nomination 2017 - Open City Documentary Festival

“You have to look for what can be loved… then your soul can be at peace”. This is the confession of the Kolozs twins, who are 95 years old now. The sometime world-famous ballerinas survived most of the historical tragedies of the 20th century. Linda Dombrovszky studied at the Academy of Film and Drama in Budapest as a film and television director and at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, graduating in 2013. Her documentaries and short films attended and received awards at several festivals. Festivals and awards: 2016 - São Paulo International Short Film Festival 2016 - Budapest International Documentary Festival 2016 - Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival

THOSE (Azok) 28 min, 2015 Director: Krisztina Meggyes Producer: Miklós Bosnyák Production company: University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest Festivals, sales: meggyeskrisztina@gmail.com

Festivals and awards: 2015 - Hungarian Film Critics’ Award - Best Documentary of the Year 2016 - Astra Film Festival Award for original approach in a docschool film

Vámosszabadi was a peaceful, wealthy village in Hungary until a sudden event disturbed the tranquillity of the settlement: a new refugee camp was established in 2013, just kilometres away from the Hungarian-Slovak border. The villagers reacted strongly and started to protest, and an activist group decided to do whatever it took to get rid of the migrants. This situation highlighted another hidden conflict. There are two kinds of people in the village: the mostly older, original villagers and the younger, wealthy newcomers. When the migrants arrived, the villagers had divided opinions: the older ones accepted their presence and the newcomers became more and more angry. This little village faced a difficulty that the rest of the world would also, just a few months later. Their new situation raised questions regarding tolerance, fear of the unknown and migration. Krisztina Meggyes has worked as director and content editor on several documentary films and documentary series.

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Short Film

ASSAUT (Asszó)

BEAUTIFUL FIGURE (Szép alak)

27 min, 2017

16 min, 2016

Director: Tamás Fekete Cast: Benett Vilmányi, Tamás Szabó Sipos, Sára Mészáros, László Keszég, Csaba Fándly Producers: Gábor Garami, Gábor Osváth Production company: Cinemafilm Festivals, sales: info@filmfabriq.hu

Director: Hajni Kis Producer: Miklós Bosnyák Cast: Brigitta Egyed, Hanna Milovits Production company: University of Theatre and Film Arts Festivals, sales: info@filmfabriq.hu

‘Assaut’ is about the relationship between two halfbrothers, both competitive fencers. The younger joins the older brother’s fencing club. This new situation triggers a change in their relationship, as the older brother becomes jealous of his younger brother’s talent. Despite the brotherly love and good relationship between them, this situation evokes past traumas and suppressed feelings for the older sibling. This story tells the drama of young persons who are living within unstable limits of the border between adolescence and adulthood. Tamás Fekete attended the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest between 2010 and 2016. He first studied theatrical dramaturgy for three years and later graduated from the film directing department. ‘Assaut’ is his fourth short film.

Elsie, the cleaning lady at a high school, falls in love with one of the female students. Born in 1990, Hungarian director Hajni Kis first studied acting before moving on film and philosophy studies at Pázmány Péter University. She got accepted to the University of Theatre and Film Arts of Budapest in 2013, where she recently finished her BA graduation movie. Festivals and awards: 2016 - 43rd Student Academy Awards® Nominated 2017 - International Short Film Week Regensburg Official Selection 2017 - BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival Official Selection

Festivals and awards: 2017 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival - Most Promising Director under 30 Award, Best Actor Award (Benett Vilmányi) Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

THE CARROT (A répa) 12 min, 2015 Director: Balázs Lengyel Producer: Ferenc Pusztai Production company: KMH Film Festivals, sales: lindapfeiffer@kmhfilm.com Andrei finds an enormous carrot in a field. He brings together his family to dig it out, but soon scientists from a nearby nuclear power plant take notice. Andrei will do anything to keep his treasure and feed his family. Balázs Lengyel has since developed his first feature film (‘Lajkó’, 2016) within the recently announced Incubator Programme of the Hungarian National Film Fund. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Short Film

EARTHLY PEOPLE (Földiek)

HIDE AND SEEK (Bújócska)

26 min, 2017

14 min, 2017

Director: Ádám Freud Cast: Zoltán Cservák, Anna Györgyi, Áron Dimény, Vivien Rujder Producers: Gábor Garami, Zoltán Mártonffy, Árpád Szirmai, Andrea Osváth Production companies: Cinemafilm, Cinesuper Festivals, sales: info@filmfabriq.hu

Director: Benő Gábor Baranyi Cast: Mátyás Kabók, Róza Koricsánszki, László Petró, Gergely Balogh, Csaba Balogh, Benjámin Pádár, Konrád Quintus Producers: Zsuzsi Gyurin, Benő Gábor Baranyi Production company: Salamandra Film Festivals, sales: krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, salamandrafilm@salamandrafilm.com

At the age of 12, Ábel has to face the fact that his parents are living in two completely different galaxies of the universe. Now he has to decide which one he belongs to. Born in 1991, Ádám Freund got accepted to the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest in 2013. He studied in the directing class of Bence Miklauzic and András Salamon. 'Földiek' ('Earthly People') is his graduation film. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival - Best Live Action Short Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

The story takes place in a poor family in Hungary. The main character is a 7-year-old boy called Matyi. He loves to play hide and seek, but he knows no bounds. He is constantly hiding somewhere, annoying his parents, and he refuses to come out even when the whole family is looking for him. As he came into the family as the fifth child, his mother had never intended to keep him, and he is just another pain for her to bear. However, his father is very fond of the boy and he is the only one with sufficient patience for him. One day, the father disappears and the mother is left alone with their undisciplined child. The film is shot in poor neighbourhoods with amateur actors and is based on a true story.

INVISIBLY (Láthatatlanul) 32 min, 2017 Director: Áron Szentpéteri Cast: Tamás Barkó, Bettina Józsa, Jákob Ladányi, Áron Ócsváry Producers: Áron Szentpéteri, Miklós Bosnyák, András Muhi, András Pires Muhi, Mónika Mécs Production company: Inforg - M&M Film Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: aronszentpeteri@gmail.com

Festivals and awards: 2017 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival - Best Live Action Short - In Competition 2017 - Cannes International Film Festival Cinéfondation Section - In Competition

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Two everyday people meet in the dark. The darkness of an invisible exhibition. Through the film we follow them as they get closer and move apart from each other by crossing blurry boundaries. Boundaries that exist between and within people and are mostly invisible. Not only for the blind. Áron Szentpéteri was born in 1987. Having completed two short films and a degree in cognitive science, he started studying at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest in 2015, in Ildikó Enyedi’s class. He is currently working on his graduation project.

Short Film

THE LAST DAY OF THE EMPIRE (A Birodalom utolsó napja)

OPERATION STONE (Van egy határ)

13 min, 2017

Director: Barnabás Tóth Cast: Szabolcs Hajdu, Gábor Baronits, Ildikó Polyák, Pál Götttinger, Tamás Kovács, Mátyás Tóth Producers: Mónika Mécs, Ernő Mesterházy, András Muhi Production companies: M&M Film, Laokoon Filmgroup Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu

Directors: Anna Rubi, Júlia Halász Cast: Gábor Bankó, Adrián Barta, Laszló Csank, Zoltán Csere, Edvárd Darabos, Miklós Ihász, Dénes Janoch, Attila Kalmár, Antal Kelle, Sára Meszáros, Zsóka Német, Csaba Sebestyén, Áron Szentpéteri, Péter Török, Mónika Tuza Producers: Lajos Tóth, Andrea Kuczkó, Gábor Rajna, Gábor Sípos Production companies: Csokonai Kulturális és Sportközpont, Laokoon Filmgroup, COLLOC Festivals, sales: danieldeak@daazo.com The empire collapses in the blink of an eye. The oppression disappears, together with the rules that provided safety. Everything is unstable, but in turn possible. This film condenses episodes of a fictitious regime change when, for an exceptional moment, the protagonist is not history itself but the ordinary people and their clumsy acts of self-liberation. Anna Rubi and Júlia Halász have been working together since their BA years in the Media Design Faculty of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. While Anna has a strong connection to performance art and theatre, Júlia comes from the field of film and documentary film.

19 min, 2016

Based on real-life events, this film is about a man and his son who tried to cross the Iron Curtain in Hungary in 1949. Barnabás Tóth (1977) has been working as an independent writer, director and producer since graduating from Budapest Film School in 2003. His filmography includes shorts (‘On a Train’, ‘My Guide’, etc.), animation (‘Grimm Café’), a feature (‘Camembert Rose’) and a short documentary (‘Hors Pairs’). Supported by the Media Council Film and the Media Funding Scheme

Festivals and awards: 2017 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival - Daazo Distribution Award

PAY DAY (Fizeto ´´ s nap) 24 min, 2016 Director: Szilárd Bernáth Producers: Iván Angelusz, Péter Reich Production company: Katapult Film Festivals, sales: office@katapultfilm.hu Extortionate moneylenders give credits in the poorest settlements from Budapest to the east. For many this represents a last opportunity and they therefore value the loan. Feri still has to decide whether or not to denounce Simon, the dreadful usurer in the area. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival - In Competition 2016 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Short Film

SING (Mindenki)

UCHEBNIK

25 min, 2016

20 min, 2016

Director: Kristóf Deák Producers: Anna Udvardy, Kristóf Deák Production company: Meteor Film Festivals, sales: kristof.deak@yahoo.co.uk

Director: Dávid Csicskár Producers: Gábor Ferenczy, András Muhi Production company: Focus Fox Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu Sales: rafay.aniko@focusfox.hu

Zsófi has found it challenging to fit in at her new school, but her outlook begins to change when she is admitted into the school’s famous choir. That is, until she learns that the choir director may not be the inspirational teacher she is portrayed to be. It will take Zsófi and her new friend Liza to reveal the truth. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Festival du cinema européen - Audience Award 2016 - TIFF Kids International Film Festival People’s Choice Award 2016 – Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia - Grand Prix, Best International Short, Audience Award 2016 – Chicago International Children’s Film Festival Best Live Action Short Film 2017 - Academy Awards® winner - Live Action Shorts

October 1956, the Hungarian Revolution is in full swing and students in a small town are busy burning their Russian grammar books, believing they will never have to study the language again. The revolution is consequently crushed by Soviet troops and the students must present the books to avoid being kicked out of school. A young boy risks life and limb to help his idol, an older boy from the same school, as he tries his utmost to befriend him. Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

WELCOME 30 min, 2016 Director: Balázs Dudás Cast: Benett Vilmányi, Éva Kerekes, Csaba Horváth, Tamás Kovács, Veronika Balogh, Zsolt Zayzon, Géza Fazakas, Zoltán Géczi, László Keszég, Béla Ficzere, Dávid Vizi Producer: Gábor Kovács Production company: Filmpartners Festivals: dudasfilm@gmail.com, kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu Sales: dudasfilm@gmail.com 'Welcome' tells a story of a typical eighteen-year-old teenager called David. After eight years of living in North Serbia, David and his mother move back to Hungary, to David’s father. A psychological battle soon begins between a man who wants to be a father and a son who refuses his authority. As the story moves forward, David’s secret (he smuggles refugees across the border) is gradually revealed. His mother is the first to find out but is unable to stop her son. David gets involved in a dangerous mission to rescue a refugee girl and so now his father is also forced to face his son’s secret. David and the girl eventually end up sitting side by side in the back seat of a police car. Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Short Animation

BALCONY (Balkon)

BOND (Kötelék)

6 min, 2015

10 min, 2017

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

Director: Judit Wunder Producer: József Fülöp Production company: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Festivals: glaser@mome.hu Sales: krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu

Everyone does what they want. The people in this film are not yet sure what they want to do. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Festival international du film d’animation d’Annecy - In Competition 2016 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival - Special Mention Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

A woman who lives in complete solitude tries hard to find love by meeting with a shadow creature that looks like a cat. Meanwhile, new bonds evolve as she gives birth to three kittens. Suddenly the creature disappears and she is left torn between the happiness of motherhood and the suspense of her lover. Judit Wunder graduated from the Animation Department at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design where she made the short animation film ‘Bond’. She was also the set designer of the Oscar-winning short film, ‘Sing’. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Annecy International Animated Film Festival Graduation Film - In Competition 2017 - Anifilm - Student Film - In Competition 2017 - Animafest Zagreb - Student Film - In Competition 2017 - Fête de l'anim - Student Film 2017 - Friss Hús Budapest International Shortfilm Festival - Hungarian Shorts, in Competition 2017 - Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film Young Animation Student Film - In Competition Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Short Animation

HUGO BUMFELDT

LOVE

12 min, 2015

14 min, 2016

Director: Éva Katinka Bognár Producer: József Fülöp Production company: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Festivals: glaser@mome.hu Sales: krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu

Director: Réka Bucsi Producers: Marc Bodin-Joyeux, Gábor Osváth Production companies: Passion Paris, Boddah Festivals: danieldeak@daazo.com Sales: annabel@autourdeminuit.com

This film is about an alien boy, Hugo, who lives on a small, far-away planet. One day he gets his first pet as a present – a real scuba diver taken from Earth. His excitement about the diver has no limits, and in his childlike selfishness he does not realise that he is playing his terrible, yet sweet games with an intelligent human being. Éva Katinka Bognár is a director from Budapest. She graduated from the animation Masters programme at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in 2015 with the hand-drawn short film ‘Hugo Bumfeldt’. Besides directing and developing animation films, she also works as a concept artist and illustrator. Festivals and awards: 2016 - International Short Film Festival Oberhausen International Children’s and Youth Film Competition, Prize of the Children’s Jury 2016 - Montecatini International Short Film Festival Best School Animation Film 2016 - Austin Film Festival - Best Animated Short, Jury Award Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

‘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 a planet’s change in atmosphere, which in turn is caused by the change of gravity and light. This pulsing planet makes its inhabitants become one with each other in various ways. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Berlin International Film Festival International premiere 2017 - Sundance Film Festival - In Competition Official selection at more than 130 film festivals worldwide Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

Short Animation

THE NOISE OF LICKING (A nyalintás nesze)

SUPERBIA

9 min, 2015

Director: Luca Tóth Producer: Péter Benjámin Lukács Production companies: Fakt Visual Lab, Maur Film, Artichoke, Boddah Festivals: danieldeak@daazo.com Sales: shorts@neweuropefilmsales.com

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 from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in 2015 in the Animation Department before participating in the international animation workshop, Animation Sans Frontières. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Festival de Cannes - Cinéfondation Section, 3rd Prize 2016 - Festival international du film d’animation d’Annecy - In Competiton 2017 - Slamdance Film Festival - In Competition Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

16 min, 2016

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 the history of the land. Luca Tóth got her BA diploma in Budapest at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design and then went on to complete a Masters in England. As a graduate of the Animation Department at 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. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Cannes Semaine de la Critique - World Premiere 2016 - Helsinki International Film Festival, Love and Anarchy - Audience Award Official selection at more than 40 film festivals worldwide Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Short Animation

UNGVÁR

VOLCANO ISLAND (Vulkánsziget)

10 min, 2016

9 min, 2017

Director: Zoltán Áprily Animation director: Igor Lazin Producer: Károly Fehér Creative producer: Brigitta Iványi-Bitter Production company: Popfilm Festivals, sales: zaprily@gmail.com

Director: Anna Kata Lovrity Producer: József Fülöp Production company: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Festivals: kati.vajda@filmalap.hu, marta.benyei@filmalap.hu, krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu glaser@mome.hu Sales: krisztina.orr@filmalap.hu

This is the decade when the last witnesses of the Second World War will pass away. Whatever they saw, whatever they went through, might from now on fade into fiction. In 1941, Hungary leased its ships to Germany. When the Germans needed them, the ships that previously served commercial purposes were converted into military use. One of them was called ‘Ungvár’. And the young waiter on the ship, full of hope and adventure, was my grandfather. Zoltán Áprily studied film theory and film history in Budapest, and also graduated as director from the European Film College in Denmark. Together with Dániel Deák, he co-founded and run a short film distribution company, Daazo.com, for almost seven years. ‘Ungvár’ is his directorial debut and first animation. Festivals and awards: 2016 - Encounters Short Film Festival - In Competition Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

A young, naive female tiger is chased by an old, white male tiger on a magical island. At the beginning of the story the tigress is not aware of her deep connection to the island and to nature. Finally she discovers her great, elementary force. Born in Budapest in 1990, Anna Katalin Lovrity is an independent animation filmmaker and illustrator. From 2010 to 2016 she attended the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, in the Animation Department, including spending a semester in 2012 in Ghent, Belgium, as part of the Erasmus programme. She is currently a participant in Animation Sans Frontières, the European animation production workshop. Festivals and awards: 2017 - Berlin International Film Festival Generation Programme Supported by the Hungarian National Film Fund

Short Animation Series A HEAP OF CROSCONT (Egy kupac kufli) 13 x 7 min, 2016 Director: Kristóf Jurik, Szabolcs Pálfi Producer: Géza M. Tóth Production company: KEDD Animation Studio Festivals: agi@kedd.net Sales: laszlo.santa@kedd.net

Festivals and awards: 2016 - Animateka - Elephant in Competition Programme - In Competition 2016 - Seoul Guro International Kids Film Festival GUKIFF2016 Programme - In Competition 2017 - Hungarian Film Week - Animation - In Competition 2017 - Kecskemét Animation Film Festival - TV Series Programme - In Competition

The animation series ‘A Heap of Crosconts’ is based on András Dániel’s book, 'Egy kupac kufli'. It is aimed for 5-9 year olds, but is just as entertaining for them as it is for much older age groups. There are seven main fairy characters, known as the crosconts. They are not rolls or worms, they are not beans or pebbles. Just crosconts. They resemble everything and they resemble nothing. They bounce like a ball, but are not a ball. They are as colourful as a lollipop, but are not edible. There is a little one and there is a big one. There is a chubby one and there is a slim one. They come and go, but nobody knows from where or to where. On a stormy night, after several nomadic years without a home, the seven crosconts find Empty Field, where they decide to settle down. In the field they find a little heap where they dig holes to make their future home, which promises plenty of exciting adventures. The often strange, absurdly humorous stories evoke children’s fantasy games.

THE HOPPIES (Hoppi mesék)

URBAN LEGENDS (Városi legendák)

13 x 7 min, 2016

13 x 3 min, 2015

Directors: Ferenc Rofusz, Andrea Miskédi Producers: Ferenc Rofusz, Tamás Salusinszky Production company: The Hoppies Ltd. Festivals, sales: tamas.salusinszky@thehoppies.com

Director: Kati Glaser Producer: Ferenc Mikulás Production company: Kecskemétfilm Ltd. Festivals, sales: marketing@kecskemetfilm.hu

‘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 who live in Hoppiland and have a large calendar showing the international holidays happening on each day of the year. 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.

Everyone has heard stories that start something like “the girlfriend of the brother of my father told me what happened to the previous owner of the dog of our neighbour’s son”, or even “the uncle of the ex-tenant of my friend’s friend told me that”... Almost everyone has a story about family or friends that has become legendary through word of mouth. These tales are mixtures of reality and imagination. They are about the widest variety of people and things - habits, luck, miracles and tragedies.

Festivals and awards: 2015 - Anim!Arte Festival of Brazil – Special Mention

Festivals and awards: 2015 - Kecskemét Animation Film Festival - TV Series Programme - In Competition 2015 - Animateka - Elephant in Competition Programme - In Competition 2016 - Seoul Guro International Kids Film Festival GUKIFF2016 Programme - In Competition

Supported by the Media Patronage Programme of the Hungarian Media Council

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

HNFF WORLD SALES | EFM LINE-UP HIGHLIGHTS

Kincsem - Bet On Revenge romance-adventure-family, 2017, 122 min

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

Screenings 22 May

6pm

Riviera 1

23 May

9:45am

Lerins 1

MEET US IN CANNES Riviera E16

HNFF World Sales | klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu | hnffworldsales.com

DIRECTOR: JÃ&#x201C;ZSEF PACSKOVSZKY

1945 drama, 2017, 91 min

Perfect Murderer crime-thriller, 2017, 99 min

Strangled psychologial thriller, 2016, 120 min

Brazils comedy, 2017, 95 min

Coyote drama, 2017, 126 min

The Citizen drama, 2016, 110 min

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

MEET US IN CANNES Hungarian Pavilion Int’l Village Riviera #137 Phone: +33 (0) 493 99 87 78 filmfund.hu

HNFF World Sales / Riviera E16 Csaba Bereczki (Eurimages representative, International director) csaba.bereczki@filmalap.hu +36-30–350–15–75 Márta Bényei (Festival manager) marta.benyei@filmalap.hu +36–30-936-32-59 Csaba Papp (Public relations) csaba.papp@filmalap.hu +36–30–936–31–49 HNFF WORLD SALES Klaudia Androsovits (Sales manager) klaudia.androsovits@filmalap.hu +36–30–936–33–89 (Palais/Riviera/E16)

Published by

Hungarian National Film Fund (MNF)

Editors-in-chief:

Dániel Deák, Gábor Osváth

Project coordinator:

Veronika Jakab, Laura Jóföldi

Editors:

Ágnes Gurubi, Zsófi Herczeg

Contributors:

Attila Benke, Bori Bujdosó, Eszter Fazekas, Bence Illyés, Anita Libor, Janka Pozsonyi

Art director:

Zoltán Bukovics

Photographer:

Gábor Valuska

Proofreader:

Laura Brown

Hungarian Film Magazine is published by Hungarian National Film Fund. Published in Hungary May 2017. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is forbidden save with the written permission of the publishers. On the cover: Kornél Mundruczó: Jupiter’s Moon www.issuu.com/hungarianfilm www.filmfund.hu www.facebook.com/hungarian.film.fund

HUNGARIAN FILM MAGAZINE

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