Cinema of Hungary
Encyclopedia
Hungary has had a notable cinema industry from the beginning of the 20th century, with Hungarians who affected the world of motion picture both inside and outside the borders. The former could be characterised by directors István Szabó
, Béla Tarr
, or Miklós Jancsó
, the latter by William Fox
, who founded Fox Studios, Alexander Korda
, playing a leading role in start of Britain's film industry, or Adolph Zukor
, founder of Paramount Pictures
. Successful Hungarian films could be exemplified by Merry-go-round
, Mephisto
, or Kontroll
.
was held at 10 May in the cafe of the Royal Hotel of Budapest
. In June of the same year, Arnold and Zsigmond Sziklai opened the first Hungarian movie theatre at the 41. Andrássy street, named the Okonograph, where they screened Lumiére films using French machinery. The inhabitants of the elite neighborhood despised this new form of entertainment, and the theatre soon closed. But film screenings in cafés, the centers of Budapest's public life, were becoming more and more widespread, and by 1911, over 100 movie theater operated in the capital.
The first film shooting took place also in 1896, recording the festivities of the Millennium Celebration. Employees of the Lumiéres recorded the march at the Buda Castle
. The first Hungarian cameraman was Zsigmond Sziklai.
The first consciously made Hungarian film was 'A Táncz' (The Dance), which came to life as an illustration to one of the shows of the Uránia Scientifical Theatre. Gyula Pekár asked for a moving picture from Béla Zsitovszky, the projectionist of the Uránia. Zsitovszky, originally an optician, shot the picture on the roof terrace of the theatre with renowned actors and ballerinas of the Operaház theatre. The 24 cinematographic short-films were premiered on 30 April 1901.
in 1908. The company also shot films, offering documentaries and newsreels, thereby making the first steps for the country's film industry.
The literary and artistic scene enthusiastically supported the new form of expression. Writers of the Nyugat circle
saw filmmaking as a sign of closing up to modern European Literature, and became avid movie theatre goers. Frigyes Karinthy even became a dramaturg to Alexander Korda
, the first prominent director and movie critic.
As early critics found most of the films vulgar, boring and frivolous, film-makers stressed the informative, educational virtues of the technology, even while their first creations could not really reinforce these claims. The first company to have artistic goals was the Hunnia Film Studio, founded in 1911, formed as an offshoot of the Vígszínház theatre.
A characteristic style of early Hungarian cinema was the cinema sketch, a hybrid form of theatre and film. Each short projection was followed or interrupted by live stage actors, often acting their own characters from the screen. The genre inspired many prominent writers of the time, including Ferenc Molnár
and Frigyes Karinthy. Comedians also used this form often to perform various jokes and scenes utilizing its hybrid nature, one well-known performer being Gyula Gózon
.
Mór Undergleider also started a professional journal on the subject of cinema, called Mozgófénykép Híradó (News of Moving Picture). The journal published articles of numerous renowned writers, theatrical directors, aestheticans and scientists about motion picture, including the pioneering film-theory articles of the 18 year old Alexander Korda. However, the theoretical forebodings and possibilities outlined in Mozgófénykép Híradó were not realized later on by the country's slowly unfolding film production.
During 1919 March–August, under the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic
, the Hungarian cinema industry was the first one to be nationalized fully. The journal Vörös film (Red film) was started to popularize the shift. A number of filmmakers welcomed the change, as the government provided protection against competing foreign movies.
or Alexander Korda
left the country while or after the disarray, often making significant career abroad, like in Hollywood. During the twenties, a and foreign (mostly American) companies made use of the economical crisis by gaining hold of nearly all of the country's theatres. French, American, and Italian movies (that were banned during the war) were all over the screens, leaving little ground for immature Hungarian productions, and the few companies, like the Corvina Studio drifted towards bankruptcy.
The downfall was avoided largely by government support, creating protective laws. The year 1925 saw the creation of the Hungarian Movie Industry Fund, and a new law forced distributors to finance a Hungarian movie after every 30 imported one. Theatres were forced to air the newsreels created by the Office of Hungarian Film. In 1929 the government of István Bethlen
began to tax imported movies (enriching the Industry Fund), but the fee was significantly lowered for companies that produced Hungarian movies (even a short movie was awarded with 20 tax-free film import).
The Movie Industry Fund bought the bankrupt Corvina Studio in 1927, founding the Hunnia Movie Company with the intention to produce full length feature films. The studio became the cornerstone for professionals in the following years. Its mission became difficult with the economical crisis of 1929 and the spreading of costly sound film, needing further investments.
The movie-producing scene slowly emerged again, marked by the start of journal Filmkultúra with editor Andor Lajtha in 1928. Newer technology from Vienna
started appeared on the sets, also leaving room for innovation: with the Projektophone, Dénes Mihály became one of the many inventors of loud film, but he was unable to sell the patent. During the shooting of Csak egy kislány van a világon, crew members were able to borrow equipment from Fox Movietone News, whose employees worked in Budapest that day, recording a few musical and speaking scenes. While the movie was one of the last silent one, ironically, it also became the first to use voice. The first voiced movie screening was held in 30 September 1929 in the Puskin theater (presenting the American The Singing Fool
). Voiced, speaking scenes were inserted in more and more films, like in Mihály Kertész's Noah's Ark, which featured a narrated introduction. The first full length film with sound was Hunnia Studio's 1931 movie Kék Bálvány.
and Gyula Kabos
became sought-after performers, appearing in nearly every major production of the decade. As sound film enabled more natural performances, popular stage actors became more attracted to the big screen, however, many of them could not adapt to the different working conditions, or to the new phenomena of the 'filmstar', a life with pressure from the media and fans.
By 1932, over 500 theatres operated in the country, a quarter of it in Budapest. Support for sound playback was spreading, with around half of the venues owning the needed devices. The maximum timeframe of the shooting was 12 days, after which the producing company fined the director for each additional day.
From 1935 onwards, far-right-wing groups were formed throughout the country. They criticized the movie industry as being "infested with Jews" and its products "containg obscene, unmoral content". The number of protests were increasing, and premiers were disrupted, like in the case of Lovagias Ügy. As Horthy
's government formed increasingly closer ties with the Nazi Germany
, the press also started to put pressure on Jewish cast members. Article XV., the first "Jew law" introduced in 1938 maximalized the Jewish members in the Film Guild in 6%. Later anti-semitic laws restricted Jews from being managers of film studios, film distributing companies and theatres, or act as directors, performers or screenwriters of a movie (over 6%). This made work nearly impossible for a large number of film-makers and actors, many of them, like Gyula Kabos fled the country. As the Second World War slowly showed its signs in the country with increasing number of air raids and bombings, making film production extremely difficult. In the final years of the war, only a handful of movies are made, most of them being slap-dash works. Movie theatres did not play American and Soviet features, industry professionals and selected audience could watch films like Gone with the Wind
only at small, hidden, makeshift screenings for high prices.
's A Tanítónő. They attempted to resurrect the production and story mechanisms of pre-war cinema, with private investments and old story schemes, but their failure seemed to prove that audience needs were changed and the small number of new cinemas will not provide enough revenue. The private sector slowly backed off from film production, resulting in no Hungarian films being made in 1946. Work resumed in 1947, with the government proposing a 200.000 Ft aid to film-producing companies (the average budget of a movie being 500.000 Ft). Companies were started, but most of them were backed by political forces. Mezei próféta was financed by the Peasant Party, Könnyű múzsa by the Independent Smallholders' Party
, Valahol Európában by the Communist Party
, and Beszterce ostroma by the Social Democratic Party
. Signaling the fierce situation, many of these movies were banned, causing moral and financial loss to targeted factions.
Most of the films from this transitional period continued the tradition of literary adaptations, but a number of them tried to introduce some sort of social criticism. Two outstanding pictures were Valahol Európában by Géza Radványi, showing a realistic story of children in a post-war country and Ének a búzamezőkről by István Szőts, originally scripted in 1942 focusing on peasant characters and the society that corrupts them. The latter movie had a smaller influence on the industry as it was banned from 1948 until the seventies.
21 March 1948 became a turning point for cinema production as the state began to nationalize certain parts of the industry, with several further steps in 1948-49 resulting in a total takeover.
The first product of the nationalized industry was Frigyes Bán's Talpalatnyi föld, continuing the tradition of films that showed a more realistic country life with the help of folk literature. However, this realism was distorted as a heavier presence of ideological content was appearing, a trend that would leave the mark on Hungarian films in the next decade. Films of 1948-49 - while varying in genre, a change that was welcomed after the mostly comedic approach of the thirties - aimed to show the sins of the past, and how they would change under the new socialist rule.
By 1950, the film industry was under total government control, plans for new movies were only issued by central command (with themes like "socialist conversion of the agriculture", or "exposing enemy sabotage". Scripts were written in several steps to ensure the enduring presence political messages. The films were issued to be directed by industry veterans who started their career in the 1930-40s, like Frigyes Bán or Márton Keleti
, even while they were politically not to be trusted. Young directors could only work on dramaturgic jobs. Films with contemporary settings became more frequent, with intention to be storied guides to explain communist morale, and to warn about its enemies. Manufacturing movies depicted the labor heroes of factory production or on the fields, showcasing the ideal worker (Első fecskék, Ütközet békében, Tűzkeresztség). Sabotage movies showed a reactionary figure from the "old regime", often an engineer or an intellectual, who works as an agent to sabotage production, sometimes collaborating with "western forces". While their first attempt is successful, investigation by wise party members uncovers the conspiracy (Teljes gőzzel, Becsület és dicsőség, Civil a pályán). Both types utilized traditional tools of filmmaking, with either comedic or musical elements to show the joys of physical labor, or elements of detective stories to show the false deeds of sabotage. Historical films were also present, showing revolutionary ages that authorities felt to be parallel to contemporary events (like Föltámadott a tenger - the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
, Rákóczi hadnagya - the peasant uprising led by Ferenc Rákóczi).
Fuelled by proper funding and the easing political climate, 1954-56 were the beginning years for cinema as an art form in Hungary. The two most influential director of the era were Zoltán Fábri
and Félix Máriássy. While Fábri operated with a dramatic-expressionist style that placed protagonists into extreme situations to face basic moral questions (Körhinta, Hannibál tanár úr), Máriássy used a lyric, and strongly realistic tone, depicting events with high detail (Budapesti tavasz, Egy pikoló világos). Another important director was Károly Makk, whose films, ranging from satirical comedy (Mese a 12 találatról) to expressionistic social drama (Ház a sziklák alatt) represented the increasingly diversifying nature of the decade's film production.
. Political influences regained their place in production, so directors stayed away from contemporary or socially critical themes. Most of the films were set between the two World Wars, many of them being literary adaptations. Adopting novels from writers like Kálmán Mikszáth
or Sándor Tatay, they showed the detailed lifestyle of peasants and common man in a moderately realistic fashion.
wanted to appear more liberal, resulting in softening rules and regulations in every area. The two former film studios were split to four independent one, headed by film-makers. These artistic teams could approve or deny filming plans themselves, supervision was only present in the form of pre-screening of the finished movie. Instead of a multiple stages of control over scripts and plans, the censoring became a posterior process. Only a low number of films became censored, not only because the government's intention to maintain a more broad-minded image, but directors also tried to avoid more problematic themes. Socially critical films, often utilizing cross-talk and allegorical elements re-emerged, many of them were also being allowed to be screened at western film festivals.
As technology became cheap, large masses of people became introduced to this form of entertainment. In the countryside, clubs, community houses were converted to screening rooms, while in towns, and especially Budapest, hundreds of new movie theatres opened. Ticket price for premiere movies was 8 Ft, and 2 Ft for movies that played older films (in worker districts all tickets costed 2 Ft) - a cost that nearly every class could pay. With short animations and news reels playing before and after feature films, movie-going became a several hour long entertainment. Special theatres operated to only show children movies or news reels (a ticket was valid for 30 minutes).
The founding of Balázs Béla Studio was another important step in the reshaping of the industry. While the studio had only a small budget, movies made here did not need to be pre-screened to external reviewers, only the ones intended for larger audiences. Young professionals finishing the university got a chance to quickly join live production. The studio became the main workshop for avant-garde and experimental filming, contributing greatly to the generational change of the sixties. Art groups with different characteristics were formed.
The era's filming was largely influenced by western modernism, but similarly to Czechoslovakian
and Polish cinema
, new elements and styles were rarely present in their pure form, but rather mixed with cultural, historical and political themes. For example, the rebellious, youth-centered French new wave served as an inspiration for István Szabó
's early works, like Álmodozások kora or Szerelmesfilm, presented in non-linear narration, and experimental camera work. But in both cases, youth themes were combined with other basic questions like history, or the clash of generations.
Overstepping the trends of the fifties, the positive intellectual appears as a new type of character, full with optimism and ideas, battling not only with political barriers, but with bureaucracy, and the old generation's rigid rules and positions (Falak, Szemüvegesek, Megszállottak). Intellectuals became personified, with such characters often reflecting to their own situation and possible ways to right decisions in long, moralizing dialogue scenes.
The demand for presenting rural life reappeared, but such films were produced with the world-view of the new generation. Protagonists looked at peasant life as a thing of the past, and while they respected old morals, and were nostalgic, they were critical about not only the social relations of past decades, but the general helplessness of their predecessors, dismaying their submission and lack of revolt. Reckoning with the past, breaking with the lifestyle of the father were the themes of numerous movies of the decade (Oldás és kötés, Feldobott kő, Tízezer nap). Instead of the ballad-like, detailed rendering of country life, new directors used more stylized methods, signaling the standoff from the old ways. The theme of generational conflict appears in more light-hearted, entertaining forms in the second half of the decade, often in collaboration with popular pop-bands (Ezek a fiatalok, Szerelmes biciklisták). Directors from the old generation also dealt with themes that looked at the past, and while omitting the element of conflicting generations, they too explored the question of individual destiny and history, historical determination, and moral decisions in such cases (Párbeszéd, Húsz óra, Hideg napon), often utilizing modernistic tools like paralleling viewpoints and interpretations.
The sixties was not only the decade of modernist film, but the starting era of distinctive directorial filmmaking. This can also be observed in Hungary. After his debut films, Így jöttem and Szegénylegények were the first movies where Miklós Jancsó
's trademark visual style - long, slow cuts and horizontal camera movement - appear. István Szabó directs his most personal movies during this time, pairing subjectivity with first person narration. After 56's Hannibál tanár úr, Zoltán Fábri
further elaborates the theme of moral choice in historical times in many of his films from the 1960s, like Isten hozta, őrnagy úr!, Két félidő a pokolban, Nappali sötétség. After trying several genres, the cinema of Károly Makk becomes more unified, creating the most political, dramatic films of his career during the era, with Megszállottak, Elveszett paradicsom, Az utolsó előtti ember.
During this years art- and entertainment films became more separated, with the latter going through a similar renewal, seeking for new genres and actors. The most popular films were Zoltán Várkonyi's adaptations of Mór Jókai novels (A kőszívű ember fiai, Egy magyar nábob, Kárpáti Zoltán) and Márton Keleti
's comedies (Butaságom története, A tizedes meg a többiek). Disaster movies of the fifties were replaced by action films, detective stories (A hamis Izabella, A gyilkos a házban van) and spy movies (Foto Háber, Fény a redőny mögött). Meant to carry on the tradition of cabaret/comedy films of the past, satirical comedy films appeared, often starring the popular László Kabos (A veréb is madár).
The end of the decade saw another wave of censorial strictness, so film productions turned from political, revolting themes towards the private sphere, often utilizing stylized, lyrical motifs, producing so-called aestheticizing films.
The two definitive trends of the seventies became the documentarism, meant to introduce a new aspect and change in form, and continuing from the sixties, the directorial films. Other contemporary genres and forms, like grotesque, satire, or the so called state-of-the-generation films can all be connected to them.
The most influential trend of the decade was documentarism, creating the genre of fictional documentary (or documentary feature films), a genre regarded as distinctively Hungarian (Budapest School). Short and full length documentaries created in the Balázs Béla Studio from the end of the sixties had a major influence in its creation. As film producers of the seventies were dissatisfied with illusion of realism of the previous years, they felt that conventional acting and dramatics no longer offered new possibilities. Many of the era's influential films include, or try to surpass documentarism, by distancing from realist depiction in building up unconventional scenes. In these films (including András Jeles's A kis Valentino), the sociologically accurate world becomes transparent, and by exposing documentarism, a peculiar cinematic language is revealed. By the end of the decade, documentarist stylization decoupled into a lyrical, or sometimes grotesque version utilized in feature films (like of Judit Elek
, Ferenc Grunwalsky, Lívia Gyarmathy
, Géza Böszörményi) and an experimental line, marked by BB Studio's Filmnyelvi Sorozat, and films of the K/3 Group, led by Gábor Bódy
.
Most of the films made in the BB Studio and on the Academy used cinéma direct as a method to reveal socially sensitive themes, but unlike the outer, intellectual standpoint of the sixties, they explored the inner conflicts of their subjects.
The era's mainstream was also created along the lines of the more artistic documentarist films, in the form of state-of-the-generation movies. While in part continuing the tradition of public life movies of the sixties, they incorporated the changed social attitudes of the seventies.
Directors:
Academy Award nominees since 1990:
Attila Szalay( with two others) technical AA-award for SpaceCam 1996(?)
Lajos Koltai
AA-nomination for Best Cinematography (2000) for "Malena"
Géza M.Tóth AA-nomination (2007) for Best Short Film, animation: "Maestro"(2005)
Márk Jászberényi, Tamás Perlaki and Gyula Priskin: Scientifical Academy Award (2010) for development of software
"Lustre", color correcting system that enables real-time manipulation during digital intermediate process.
István Szabó
István Szabó is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.Szabó is the most internationally famous Hungarian filmmaker since the late 1960s. Working in the tradition of European, auteurist art cinema, he has made films that represent many of the psychological and political...
, Béla Tarr
Béla Tarr
-Life:Tarr was born in Pécs, but grew up in Budapest. Both of his parents were close to theatre and film: his father was a scenery designer, while his mother has been working as a prompter at a theater for more than 50 years now...
, or Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter.Jancsó achieved international prominence from the mid-1960s onwards, with works including The Round Up , The Red and the White and Red Psalm .Jancsó's films are characterized by visual stylization,...
, the latter by William Fox
William Fox
William Fox may refer to:* William Fox , Irish international footballer active in the 1880s.* William Fox , Paymaster of the Forces of England* William Johnson Fox , British politician* William F...
, who founded Fox Studios, Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
, playing a leading role in start of Britain's film industry, or Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...
, founder of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Successful Hungarian films could be exemplified by Merry-go-round
Merry-Go-Round (1956 film)
Merry-Go-Round is a 1956 Hungarian drama film directed by Zoltán Fábri, based on the short story Kútban by Imre Sarkadi...
, Mephisto
Mephisto
Mephisto or Mephistopheles is one of the chief demons of German literary tradition.Mephisto or Mephistopheles may also refer to:* Mephisto , a high-speed human-powered vehicle...
, or Kontroll
Kontroll
Kontroll is a Hungarian comedy-thriller released to theatres in 2003. Shown internationally, mainly in art house theatres, the film is a darkly comic thriller set in a Hungarian Metro system....
.
1896–1901
The story of the Hungarian Cinema begins in 1896, when the first screening of the films of the Lumiére brothersAuguste and Louis Lumière
The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean , were among the earliest filmmakers in history...
was held at 10 May in the cafe of the Royal Hotel of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. In June of the same year, Arnold and Zsigmond Sziklai opened the first Hungarian movie theatre at the 41. Andrássy street, named the Okonograph, where they screened Lumiére films using French machinery. The inhabitants of the elite neighborhood despised this new form of entertainment, and the theatre soon closed. But film screenings in cafés, the centers of Budapest's public life, were becoming more and more widespread, and by 1911, over 100 movie theater operated in the capital.
The first film shooting took place also in 1896, recording the festivities of the Millennium Celebration. Employees of the Lumiéres recorded the march at the Buda Castle
Buda Castle
Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, first completed in 1265. In the past, it was also called Royal Palace and Royal Castle ....
. The first Hungarian cameraman was Zsigmond Sziklai.
The first consciously made Hungarian film was 'A Táncz' (The Dance), which came to life as an illustration to one of the shows of the Uránia Scientifical Theatre. Gyula Pekár asked for a moving picture from Béla Zsitovszky, the projectionist of the Uránia. Zsitovszky, originally an optician, shot the picture on the roof terrace of the theatre with renowned actors and ballerinas of the Operaház theatre. The 24 cinematographic short-films were premiered on 30 April 1901.
1901–1920
The infrastructure of the Hungarian cinema scene was built up during the first decade of the 20th century. By 1910, 270 permanent theatres operated in the country, including large capacity film palaces like the Royal Apollo. Film distribution was organized by the end of the decade. The first company to lend film-shooting apparatus was the Projectograph, founded by Mór UngerleiderMór Ungerleider
Mór Ungerleider was a Hungarian cafe owner and showman, and was the first to show cinema in Hungary. The first film was first shot in Hungary in 1896 by Arnold Sziklay. Mór Ungerleider owned the Velence Café of Király utca where he showed films...
in 1908. The company also shot films, offering documentaries and newsreels, thereby making the first steps for the country's film industry.
The literary and artistic scene enthusiastically supported the new form of expression. Writers of the Nyugat circle
Nyugat
Nyugat , was the most influential Hungarian literary journal in the first half of the 20th century. Writers and poets from that era are referred to as "1st/2nd/3rd generation of the NYUGAT"....
saw filmmaking as a sign of closing up to modern European Literature, and became avid movie theatre goers. Frigyes Karinthy even became a dramaturg to Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
, the first prominent director and movie critic.
As early critics found most of the films vulgar, boring and frivolous, film-makers stressed the informative, educational virtues of the technology, even while their first creations could not really reinforce these claims. The first company to have artistic goals was the Hunnia Film Studio, founded in 1911, formed as an offshoot of the Vígszínház theatre.
A characteristic style of early Hungarian cinema was the cinema sketch, a hybrid form of theatre and film. Each short projection was followed or interrupted by live stage actors, often acting their own characters from the screen. The genre inspired many prominent writers of the time, including Ferenc Molnár
Ferenc Molnár
LanguageFerenc Molnár was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. His Americanized name was Franz Molnar...
and Frigyes Karinthy. Comedians also used this form often to perform various jokes and scenes utilizing its hybrid nature, one well-known performer being Gyula Gózon
Gyula Gózon
Gyula Gózon was a Hungarian actor and comedian.-Life:Gyula Gózon was born on 19 April 1885, in Nové Zámky, but grew up in Esztergom. With the mentoring of his brother, he could fulfill his dream of learning to be a singer actor at the actor school of Szidi Rákosi in Budapest...
.
Mór Undergleider also started a professional journal on the subject of cinema, called Mozgófénykép Híradó (News of Moving Picture). The journal published articles of numerous renowned writers, theatrical directors, aestheticans and scientists about motion picture, including the pioneering film-theory articles of the 18 year old Alexander Korda. However, the theoretical forebodings and possibilities outlined in Mozgófénykép Híradó were not realized later on by the country's slowly unfolding film production.
During 1919 March–August, under the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....
, the Hungarian cinema industry was the first one to be nationalized fully. The journal Vörös film (Red film) was started to popularize the shift. A number of filmmakers welcomed the change, as the government provided protection against competing foreign movies.
1920–1931
The aftermath of the First World War left the sprouting Hungarian movie industry in ruins. Native experts of the field, like directors Michael CurtizMichael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
or Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
left the country while or after the disarray, often making significant career abroad, like in Hollywood. During the twenties, a and foreign (mostly American) companies made use of the economical crisis by gaining hold of nearly all of the country's theatres. French, American, and Italian movies (that were banned during the war) were all over the screens, leaving little ground for immature Hungarian productions, and the few companies, like the Corvina Studio drifted towards bankruptcy.
The downfall was avoided largely by government support, creating protective laws. The year 1925 saw the creation of the Hungarian Movie Industry Fund, and a new law forced distributors to finance a Hungarian movie after every 30 imported one. Theatres were forced to air the newsreels created by the Office of Hungarian Film. In 1929 the government of István Bethlen
István Bethlen
Count István Bethlen de Bethlen was a Hungarian aristocrat and statesman and served as Prime Minister from 1921 to 1931....
began to tax imported movies (enriching the Industry Fund), but the fee was significantly lowered for companies that produced Hungarian movies (even a short movie was awarded with 20 tax-free film import).
The Movie Industry Fund bought the bankrupt Corvina Studio in 1927, founding the Hunnia Movie Company with the intention to produce full length feature films. The studio became the cornerstone for professionals in the following years. Its mission became difficult with the economical crisis of 1929 and the spreading of costly sound film, needing further investments.
The movie-producing scene slowly emerged again, marked by the start of journal Filmkultúra with editor Andor Lajtha in 1928. Newer technology from Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
started appeared on the sets, also leaving room for innovation: with the Projektophone, Dénes Mihály became one of the many inventors of loud film, but he was unable to sell the patent. During the shooting of Csak egy kislány van a világon, crew members were able to borrow equipment from Fox Movietone News, whose employees worked in Budapest that day, recording a few musical and speaking scenes. While the movie was one of the last silent one, ironically, it also became the first to use voice. The first voiced movie screening was held in 30 September 1929 in the Puskin theater (presenting the American The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool is a 1928 musical drama Part-Talkie motion picture which was released by Warner Brothers. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer...
). Voiced, speaking scenes were inserted in more and more films, like in Mihály Kertész's Noah's Ark, which featured a narrated introduction. The first full length film with sound was Hunnia Studio's 1931 movie Kék Bálvány.
1931–1945
Because of its reputedly alien American storyline and setting, Kék Bálvány, was only a mild success. Not like Hyppolit, a lakáj, which premiered only two months after, and became the first box office hit, also being one of the most successful and well-known motion picture of the country. Directed by István Székely, who was called back from Berlin for the job, the movie's comedic tone and bourgeois setting became a standard for native film production in the following ten years. Actors like Pál JávorPál Jávor
Pál Jávor was one of the most known Hungarian actors, and the country's first male movie star.-Early years:...
and Gyula Kabos
Gyula Kabos
Gyula Kabos was a Hungarian actor and comedian, widely known for his comedic movie roles in the late 1930s.- Early Years :Kabos was born on March 19, 1887, in Budapest as Gyula Kann...
became sought-after performers, appearing in nearly every major production of the decade. As sound film enabled more natural performances, popular stage actors became more attracted to the big screen, however, many of them could not adapt to the different working conditions, or to the new phenomena of the 'filmstar', a life with pressure from the media and fans.
By 1932, over 500 theatres operated in the country, a quarter of it in Budapest. Support for sound playback was spreading, with around half of the venues owning the needed devices. The maximum timeframe of the shooting was 12 days, after which the producing company fined the director for each additional day.
From 1935 onwards, far-right-wing groups were formed throughout the country. They criticized the movie industry as being "infested with Jews" and its products "containg obscene, unmoral content". The number of protests were increasing, and premiers were disrupted, like in the case of Lovagias Ügy. As Horthy
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
's government formed increasingly closer ties with the Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, the press also started to put pressure on Jewish cast members. Article XV., the first "Jew law" introduced in 1938 maximalized the Jewish members in the Film Guild in 6%. Later anti-semitic laws restricted Jews from being managers of film studios, film distributing companies and theatres, or act as directors, performers or screenwriters of a movie (over 6%). This made work nearly impossible for a large number of film-makers and actors, many of them, like Gyula Kabos fled the country. As the Second World War slowly showed its signs in the country with increasing number of air raids and bombings, making film production extremely difficult. In the final years of the war, only a handful of movies are made, most of them being slap-dash works. Movie theatres did not play American and Soviet features, industry professionals and selected audience could watch films like Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
only at small, hidden, makeshift screenings for high prices.
1945–1947
The War had caused huge damage on industry property, but production work resumes relatively early, in 1945. Three movies were produced in this year, the most prominent of this new ventures being Márton KeletiMárton Keleti
Márton Keleti was a Hungarian film director. He directed 50 films between 1937 and 1973.-Selected filmography:* Franz Liszt. Dreams of love * Two Confessions * Kiskrajcár...
's A Tanítónő. They attempted to resurrect the production and story mechanisms of pre-war cinema, with private investments and old story schemes, but their failure seemed to prove that audience needs were changed and the small number of new cinemas will not provide enough revenue. The private sector slowly backed off from film production, resulting in no Hungarian films being made in 1946. Work resumed in 1947, with the government proposing a 200.000 Ft aid to film-producing companies (the average budget of a movie being 500.000 Ft). Companies were started, but most of them were backed by political forces. Mezei próféta was financed by the Peasant Party, Könnyű múzsa by the Independent Smallholders' Party
Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party
The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party is a political party in Hungary...
, Valahol Európában by the Communist Party
Hungarian Communist Party
The Communist Party of Hungary , renamed Hungarian Communist Party in 1945, was founded on November 24, 1918, and was in power in Hungary briefly from March to August 1919 under Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The communist government was overthrown by the Romanian Army and driven...
, and Beszterce ostroma by the Social Democratic Party
Hungarian Social Democratic Party
The Hungarian Social Democratic Party is a political party in Hungary. Both the MSZDP and SZDP lay claim to the same heritage: the Social Democratic Party which was part of a governing coalition in Hungary between 1945 and 1948, and a short period in 1956, which itself was renamed from the...
. Signaling the fierce situation, many of these movies were banned, causing moral and financial loss to targeted factions.
Most of the films from this transitional period continued the tradition of literary adaptations, but a number of them tried to introduce some sort of social criticism. Two outstanding pictures were Valahol Európában by Géza Radványi, showing a realistic story of children in a post-war country and Ének a búzamezőkről by István Szőts, originally scripted in 1942 focusing on peasant characters and the society that corrupts them. The latter movie had a smaller influence on the industry as it was banned from 1948 until the seventies.
21 March 1948 became a turning point for cinema production as the state began to nationalize certain parts of the industry, with several further steps in 1948-49 resulting in a total takeover.
1948–1950
After the communist nationalization, the only company allowed to produce feature films was the Hungarian National Filmmaking Company, while newsreels and documentary production was managed by the News and Documentary Film Company, distribution was handled through MOKÉP. Control over film production was centralized and overviewed by authorities to specify story themes and setting, the script was often rewritten multiple times to secure the transmission of ideological messages. The nationalization solved the long-running problem of funding, the government's resources allowed for technically more complex, big budget movies.The first product of the nationalized industry was Frigyes Bán's Talpalatnyi föld, continuing the tradition of films that showed a more realistic country life with the help of folk literature. However, this realism was distorted as a heavier presence of ideological content was appearing, a trend that would leave the mark on Hungarian films in the next decade. Films of 1948-49 - while varying in genre, a change that was welcomed after the mostly comedic approach of the thirties - aimed to show the sins of the past, and how they would change under the new socialist rule.
By 1950, the film industry was under total government control, plans for new movies were only issued by central command (with themes like "socialist conversion of the agriculture", or "exposing enemy sabotage". Scripts were written in several steps to ensure the enduring presence political messages. The films were issued to be directed by industry veterans who started their career in the 1930-40s, like Frigyes Bán or Márton Keleti
Márton Keleti
Márton Keleti was a Hungarian film director. He directed 50 films between 1937 and 1973.-Selected filmography:* Franz Liszt. Dreams of love * Two Confessions * Kiskrajcár...
, even while they were politically not to be trusted. Young directors could only work on dramaturgic jobs. Films with contemporary settings became more frequent, with intention to be storied guides to explain communist morale, and to warn about its enemies. Manufacturing movies depicted the labor heroes of factory production or on the fields, showcasing the ideal worker (Első fecskék, Ütközet békében, Tűzkeresztség). Sabotage movies showed a reactionary figure from the "old regime", often an engineer or an intellectual, who works as an agent to sabotage production, sometimes collaborating with "western forces". While their first attempt is successful, investigation by wise party members uncovers the conspiracy (Teljes gőzzel, Becsület és dicsőség, Civil a pályán). Both types utilized traditional tools of filmmaking, with either comedic or musical elements to show the joys of physical labor, or elements of detective stories to show the false deeds of sabotage. Historical films were also present, showing revolutionary ages that authorities felt to be parallel to contemporary events (like Föltámadott a tenger - the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of many of the European Revolutions of 1848 and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas...
, Rákóczi hadnagya - the peasant uprising led by Ferenc Rákóczi).
1953–1956
From 1953, slight attempts of democratization are also showing signs in film production. The script loses importance over directorial work, also giving chance to young talents (Károly Makk, János Herkó). Political messages were toned down, with manufacturing movies converting into real comedies with only marginal political elements (Állami áruház, 2x2 néha öt), and sabotage movies turning into disaster films, showing more realistic threats to production (natural disaster or human negligence) that requires the collaboration of a community. Socially critical works began to appear, both in drama (Keserű igazság) and comedic (Két emelet boldogság) form, to tell about the abnormal side of the communist rule.Fuelled by proper funding and the easing political climate, 1954-56 were the beginning years for cinema as an art form in Hungary. The two most influential director of the era were Zoltán Fábri
Zoltán Fábri
Zoltán Fábri was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His films The Boys of Paul Street and Hungarians were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film....
and Félix Máriássy. While Fábri operated with a dramatic-expressionist style that placed protagonists into extreme situations to face basic moral questions (Körhinta, Hannibál tanár úr), Máriássy used a lyric, and strongly realistic tone, depicting events with high detail (Budapesti tavasz, Egy pikoló világos). Another important director was Károly Makk, whose films, ranging from satirical comedy (Mese a 12 találatról) to expressionistic social drama (Ház a sziklák alatt) represented the increasingly diversifying nature of the decade's film production.
1956–1960
The reprisal following the civil war of 1956 affected the movies world severely, several films were banned, while many industry experts and actors left the country. Decentralization of the country's film production was halted, the planned reorganization became superficial, with the Hungarian National Filmmaking Company regaining its name of Hunnia Film Studio, and the News and Documentary Film Company was renamed to Budapest Film Studio. The latter also received permission to produce feature films, and while its budget and machinery was not ready for this task for a few following years, it provided breeding ground for a number of young talents, like Miklós JancsóMiklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter.Jancsó achieved international prominence from the mid-1960s onwards, with works including The Round Up , The Red and the White and Red Psalm .Jancsó's films are characterized by visual stylization,...
. Political influences regained their place in production, so directors stayed away from contemporary or socially critical themes. Most of the films were set between the two World Wars, many of them being literary adaptations. Adopting novels from writers like Kálmán Mikszáth
Kálmán Mikszáth
Kálmán Mikszáth de Kiscsoltó was a major Hungarian novelist, journalist, and politician.-Biography:Mikszáth was born in Szklabonya, Upper Hungary into a family of the lesser nobility...
or Sándor Tatay, they showed the detailed lifestyle of peasants and common man in a moderately realistic fashion.
1960–1970
The sixties were the years of rejuvenation for the Hungarian movie industry. After the harsher years following the events of 1956, the newly erected socialist government, headed by János KádárJános Kádár
János Kádár was a Hungarian communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, presiding over the country from 1956 until his forced retirement in 1988. His thirty-two year term as General Secretary makes Kádár the longest ruler of the People's Republic of Hungary...
wanted to appear more liberal, resulting in softening rules and regulations in every area. The two former film studios were split to four independent one, headed by film-makers. These artistic teams could approve or deny filming plans themselves, supervision was only present in the form of pre-screening of the finished movie. Instead of a multiple stages of control over scripts and plans, the censoring became a posterior process. Only a low number of films became censored, not only because the government's intention to maintain a more broad-minded image, but directors also tried to avoid more problematic themes. Socially critical films, often utilizing cross-talk and allegorical elements re-emerged, many of them were also being allowed to be screened at western film festivals.
As technology became cheap, large masses of people became introduced to this form of entertainment. In the countryside, clubs, community houses were converted to screening rooms, while in towns, and especially Budapest, hundreds of new movie theatres opened. Ticket price for premiere movies was 8 Ft, and 2 Ft for movies that played older films (in worker districts all tickets costed 2 Ft) - a cost that nearly every class could pay. With short animations and news reels playing before and after feature films, movie-going became a several hour long entertainment. Special theatres operated to only show children movies or news reels (a ticket was valid for 30 minutes).
The founding of Balázs Béla Studio was another important step in the reshaping of the industry. While the studio had only a small budget, movies made here did not need to be pre-screened to external reviewers, only the ones intended for larger audiences. Young professionals finishing the university got a chance to quickly join live production. The studio became the main workshop for avant-garde and experimental filming, contributing greatly to the generational change of the sixties. Art groups with different characteristics were formed.
The era's filming was largely influenced by western modernism, but similarly to Czechoslovakian
Cinema of Slovakia
The cinema of Slovakia encompasses a range of themes and styles typical of European cinema. Yet there are a certain number of recurring themes that are visible in the majority of the important works. These include rural settings, folk traditions, and carnival...
and Polish cinema
Cinema of Poland
The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as history of cinematography, and it has universal achievements, even though Polish movies tend to be less commercially available than movies from several other European nations....
, new elements and styles were rarely present in their pure form, but rather mixed with cultural, historical and political themes. For example, the rebellious, youth-centered French new wave served as an inspiration for István Szabó
István Szabó
István Szabó is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.Szabó is the most internationally famous Hungarian filmmaker since the late 1960s. Working in the tradition of European, auteurist art cinema, he has made films that represent many of the psychological and political...
's early works, like Álmodozások kora or Szerelmesfilm, presented in non-linear narration, and experimental camera work. But in both cases, youth themes were combined with other basic questions like history, or the clash of generations.
Overstepping the trends of the fifties, the positive intellectual appears as a new type of character, full with optimism and ideas, battling not only with political barriers, but with bureaucracy, and the old generation's rigid rules and positions (Falak, Szemüvegesek, Megszállottak). Intellectuals became personified, with such characters often reflecting to their own situation and possible ways to right decisions in long, moralizing dialogue scenes.
The demand for presenting rural life reappeared, but such films were produced with the world-view of the new generation. Protagonists looked at peasant life as a thing of the past, and while they respected old morals, and were nostalgic, they were critical about not only the social relations of past decades, but the general helplessness of their predecessors, dismaying their submission and lack of revolt. Reckoning with the past, breaking with the lifestyle of the father were the themes of numerous movies of the decade (Oldás és kötés, Feldobott kő, Tízezer nap). Instead of the ballad-like, detailed rendering of country life, new directors used more stylized methods, signaling the standoff from the old ways. The theme of generational conflict appears in more light-hearted, entertaining forms in the second half of the decade, often in collaboration with popular pop-bands (Ezek a fiatalok, Szerelmes biciklisták). Directors from the old generation also dealt with themes that looked at the past, and while omitting the element of conflicting generations, they too explored the question of individual destiny and history, historical determination, and moral decisions in such cases (Párbeszéd, Húsz óra, Hideg napon), often utilizing modernistic tools like paralleling viewpoints and interpretations.
The sixties was not only the decade of modernist film, but the starting era of distinctive directorial filmmaking. This can also be observed in Hungary. After his debut films, Így jöttem and Szegénylegények were the first movies where Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter.Jancsó achieved international prominence from the mid-1960s onwards, with works including The Round Up , The Red and the White and Red Psalm .Jancsó's films are characterized by visual stylization,...
's trademark visual style - long, slow cuts and horizontal camera movement - appear. István Szabó directs his most personal movies during this time, pairing subjectivity with first person narration. After 56's Hannibál tanár úr, Zoltán Fábri
Zoltán Fábri
Zoltán Fábri was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His films The Boys of Paul Street and Hungarians were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film....
further elaborates the theme of moral choice in historical times in many of his films from the 1960s, like Isten hozta, őrnagy úr!, Két félidő a pokolban, Nappali sötétség. After trying several genres, the cinema of Károly Makk becomes more unified, creating the most political, dramatic films of his career during the era, with Megszállottak, Elveszett paradicsom, Az utolsó előtti ember.
During this years art- and entertainment films became more separated, with the latter going through a similar renewal, seeking for new genres and actors. The most popular films were Zoltán Várkonyi's adaptations of Mór Jókai novels (A kőszívű ember fiai, Egy magyar nábob, Kárpáti Zoltán) and Márton Keleti
Márton Keleti
Márton Keleti was a Hungarian film director. He directed 50 films between 1937 and 1973.-Selected filmography:* Franz Liszt. Dreams of love * Two Confessions * Kiskrajcár...
's comedies (Butaságom története, A tizedes meg a többiek). Disaster movies of the fifties were replaced by action films, detective stories (A hamis Izabella, A gyilkos a házban van) and spy movies (Foto Háber, Fény a redőny mögött). Meant to carry on the tradition of cabaret/comedy films of the past, satirical comedy films appeared, often starring the popular László Kabos (A veréb is madár).
The end of the decade saw another wave of censorial strictness, so film productions turned from political, revolting themes towards the private sphere, often utilizing stylized, lyrical motifs, producing so-called aestheticizing films.
1970–1980
Both the objective and subjective form of the Hungarian film, developed in the sixties, goes through process of stylization in the seventies. Objective films try to compose a more closer, sociological description of social processes (marked by the trend of documentarism), the subjective, overstepping biographical elements, tries to stress the individual side of its form (marked by the slightly pejorative term aestheticism). In both cases, the classical forms of narration fell into the background, and parallel to the loosening of the story, pictorial effects were strengthened, often using allegorization.The two definitive trends of the seventies became the documentarism, meant to introduce a new aspect and change in form, and continuing from the sixties, the directorial films. Other contemporary genres and forms, like grotesque, satire, or the so called state-of-the-generation films can all be connected to them.
The most influential trend of the decade was documentarism, creating the genre of fictional documentary (or documentary feature films), a genre regarded as distinctively Hungarian (Budapest School). Short and full length documentaries created in the Balázs Béla Studio from the end of the sixties had a major influence in its creation. As film producers of the seventies were dissatisfied with illusion of realism of the previous years, they felt that conventional acting and dramatics no longer offered new possibilities. Many of the era's influential films include, or try to surpass documentarism, by distancing from realist depiction in building up unconventional scenes. In these films (including András Jeles's A kis Valentino), the sociologically accurate world becomes transparent, and by exposing documentarism, a peculiar cinematic language is revealed. By the end of the decade, documentarist stylization decoupled into a lyrical, or sometimes grotesque version utilized in feature films (like of Judit Elek
Judit Elek
Judit Elek is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. She has directed 16 films between 1962 and 2006. Her film Mária-nap was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.-Filmography:...
, Ferenc Grunwalsky, Lívia Gyarmathy
Lívia Gyarmathy
Lívia Gyarmathy is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. She has directed over 20 films since 1962. She was a member of the jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.-External links:...
, Géza Böszörményi) and an experimental line, marked by BB Studio's Filmnyelvi Sorozat, and films of the K/3 Group, led by Gábor Bódy
Gábor Bódy
Gábor Bódy was a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, theoretic, and occasional actor. A pioneer of experimental filmmaking and film language, Bódy is one of the most important figures of Hungarian cinema.- Biography :...
.
Most of the films made in the BB Studio and on the Academy used cinéma direct as a method to reveal socially sensitive themes, but unlike the outer, intellectual standpoint of the sixties, they explored the inner conflicts of their subjects.
The era's mainstream was also created along the lines of the more artistic documentarist films, in the form of state-of-the-generation movies. While in part continuing the tradition of public life movies of the sixties, they incorporated the changed social attitudes of the seventies.
From 1990
List of Movies:- Hungarian Requiem (1991)
- SátántangóSatantangoSátántangó is a film directed by Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr. Shot in black-and-white, completed in 1994, it runs 7 hours and 12 minutes. It is based on the novel Sátántangó by Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai, who has been providing Tarr with stories since his 1988 film Kárhozat...
(1994) - The Gambler (1997)
- AbandonedAbandoned (2001 film)Abandoned is a 2001 Hungarian film directed by Arpád Sopsits. It was Hungary's submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.-Plot:...
(2001) - I Love Budapest (2001)
- HukkleHukkleHukkle is a 2002 Hungarian film. It's about the daily life of people in a random village which seems beautiful and harmless, but there is something mysterious going on...
(2002) - Pleasant Days (2002)
- A Long Weekend In Pest And Buda (2003)
- KontrollKontrollKontroll is a Hungarian comedy-thriller released to theatres in 2003. Shown internationally, mainly in art house theatres, the film is a darkly comic thriller set in a Hungarian Metro system....
(2003) - FatelessFateless (film)Fateless is a film directed by Lajos Koltai, released in 2005. It was based on the semi-autobiographical novel Fatelessness by the Nobel Prize-winner Imre Kertész, who wrote the screenplay. It is the story of a teenage boy who is sent to concentration camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Zeitz.Its...
(2005) - Just Sex and Nothing Else (2005)
- Children of Glory (2006)
- Johanna (2006)
- Rokonok (2006)
- TaxidermiaTaxidermiaTaxidermia is a 2006 Hungarian film directed by György Pálfi. The film focuses on three generations of men from Hungary, beginning with a military orderly during the Second World War, moving on to an aspiring speed-eater during the Cold War, and concluding with a taxidermist during modern times...
(2006) - Kaméleon (2008)
- Delta (2008)
- The Man From London (2008)
- Katalin VargaKatalin Varga (film)Katalin Varga is a 2009 film directed by Peter Strickland.The directorial debut of Peter Strickland, he used the money from a bequest from his uncle to fund the project. Filmed over several years in a Hungarian-speaking part of the Romanian region of Transylvania, Strickland completed the project...
(2009)
Directors:
- Antal Nimród
- György PálfiGyörgy PálfiGyörgy Pálfi is a Hungarian filmmaker. His film Taxidermia was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.-Filmography:* Hukkle * Taxidermia...
- István SzabóIstván SzabóIstván Szabó is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.Szabó is the most internationally famous Hungarian filmmaker since the late 1960s. Working in the tradition of European, auteurist art cinema, he has made films that represent many of the psychological and political...
- Károly Makk
- Lajos KoltaiLajos KoltaiLajos Koltai, ASC, HSC, is a Hungarian cinematographer and film director best known for his work with legendary Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, and Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore...
- Márta MészárosMárta MészárosMárta Mészáros is a Hungarian film director. She worked as an English Teachersmeaning? filmmaker in the 1960s, but in the following decade began making films drawing on the oppression of both state and gender...
Academy Award nominees since 1990:
Attila Szalay( with two others) technical AA-award for SpaceCam 1996(?)
Lajos Koltai
Lajos Koltai
Lajos Koltai, ASC, HSC, is a Hungarian cinematographer and film director best known for his work with legendary Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, and Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore...
AA-nomination for Best Cinematography (2000) for "Malena"
Géza M.Tóth AA-nomination (2007) for Best Short Film, animation: "Maestro"(2005)
Márk Jászberényi, Tamás Perlaki and Gyula Priskin: Scientifical Academy Award (2010) for development of software
"Lustre", color correcting system that enables real-time manipulation during digital intermediate process.
See also
- Cinema of the world
- Culture of HungaryCulture of HungaryThe culture of Hungary has a distinctive style of its own in Hungary, diverse and varied, starting from the capital city of Budapest on the Danube, to the Great Plain bordering Ukraine. Hungary was formerly one half of Austria-Hungary. Hungary has a rich folk tradition, for example: embroideries,...
- Pornography in HungaryPornography in HungaryThe history of pornography in Hungary mainly dates from the period after the fall of communism in 1989. The production and distribution of pornography was illegal under communism, but the laws were liberalised with the emergence of democracy. Permissive government policies soon propelled the...
- Korda StudiosKorda StudiosKorda Studios. Hungary . is a new film studio complex 26 km west of Budapest in the wine-making village of Etyek; hence the media nickname Etyekwood. It is built on the site of a former barracks. with six studios. The studio is named after Sir Alexander Korda. There was a former Korda Studios...
, a new film studio near BudapestBudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
nicknamed Etyekwood.
External links
- mmka.hu Official website of the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary
- filmintezet.hu Official website of the National Film Archive
- film.hu – a portal dedicated to Hungarian films
- filmtortenet.hu filmtortenet.hu] – a portal presenting a timeline of Hungarian cinema
- Hungarian film at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...