Discoveries from Hungary World Cinema

To inherit the fortune he made in his previous life a man must become his previous incarnation again.

Set on a lazy, lukewarm summer afternoon, the story of a young but jaded Feri and a disintegrating group of friends in a lakeside holiday village.

György Kovásznai co-directs his last film “Reportrait” with Elek Lisziák, a series of interviews about various sociological subjects based on the concept of “Anima Veritae”.

After a heart attack, landowner Ferdinand Kerekházy summons his son Ferko Kerekházy from abroad, who, to his conservative father's dismay, sends a wagonload of machines ahead to set up an irrigation system and turn the saline, barely productive fields into fertile ones. The old count doesn't want to hear about his son's plans, and wants Ferko to marry Baroness Zólyomi. Since his son refuses, he disowns him. With persistent work, and the support of the mayor and a young engineer from Pest, the irrigation plan is realized. When the old count, who is always dreaming of grandchildren, realises that his son and the mayor's daughter have fallen in love, he reconciles with Ferko and asks her to marry him.

"Don't give up your dream" - this is how Demjén Ferenc's song goes and Gyuri darts along the endless fields on a white horse. The young crane-operator lives in a small larder-room, where he has to hang his chair on the wall and the tap drips. He has to share his mornings with his two dream "man-hunters", his father and his brother, who feel that he does not belong to them because of his desires and ambitions.

Oryna, an 18-year-old Ukrainian girl, fled her homeland during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while all her family, including her 7-year-old sister Ksiusha, decided to remain there. The film observes the daily remote communication between Oryna and her younger sister, and reveals their close bonds of sisterhood, which remain strong despite their separation, the constant presence of the war, and the natural process of growing apart.

A semi-documentary film about the legendary hungarian rock guitarist, Béla Radics.

The corrupt leaders of a small rural town learn that an auditor is coming from St Petersburg. Frightened, they try to put things in order. Hlesztakov, a Petersburg official, has been starving for days in his inn in the small town, having gambled away all his money and no credit. In a misunderstanding and a bit of backstabbing, the town's corrupt leaders mistake him for an auditor. The bureau chiefs are watching his every move, and the mayor's daughter is a hit. When he leaves, the whole town celebrates and expects him back for a wedding. But a letter reveals the fraud, and at the same time the real auditor arrives.

A young man has his hepatic duct replaced with a plastic tube after an accident but starts to get worried how this will affect his manliness.

A one‐woman musical that follows an English woman who, after falling in love, writes a series of letters to the man she adores, first full of hope, then of disappointment as their long‐distance relationship falters. Through a continuous stream of songs, she recounts her journey from naïve optimism to heartache and ultimately to self‐discovery and resilience.

In this somewhat uneven political satire, good revolutionaries have overthrown a totalitarian state riddled with corruption on all levels when a truly naive bureaucrat (Boguslaw Linda) is placed on a jury that will judge the results of a history competition. Once on the jury, the young bureaucrat starts looking into the past himself and gets embroiled in a labyrinth. The past may well be unclear because recent leaders have certain facts that need to be kept buried. Filmmaker Janos Kovacsi borrows characteristics from revolutions in the Eastern European block (1950s-1980s) to create this post-revolutionary society with an idealist commander (Ferenc Zenthe) meant to lead them. A clue as to what happens next lies in the opening scene -- the funeral of the commander who has given his life for his cause. Ironically, Kovacsi undoubtedly faced censorship on this film. That would not only account for some uneven narration, but it adds a dimension of reality to the topic at hand.

As with the previous Bogyó és Babóca films, we have put together 13 short stories by Erika Bartos. The most characteristic and recurring motif of the stories is empathy, attentiveness, and the constant striving to fulfil the wishes and desires of others. In addition to the more than 100 characters who are well known to the Hungarian children's audience, new characters appear this time: the copper beetle, who is the master of bells and chimes, Otto the Badger, who gives a red Frisbee to his friend Regő Squirrel, and the millipede, who is invited to an apple harvest by his distant relative, the centipede.The tales are devoid of self-serving violence, are intended to teach "good manners" and are easy to follow and absorb even for the youngest children.

A film study in which the symbol of flight which contradicts human limitations inspires an emotional rhythm of scenes varying along three lines: the human desire for the sky (the first attempts for flight), the death of birds (experiments on animals) and the death of a human being in heights (a fall which isn´t a flight).

Bálint, the theatre's award-winning chief director, thinks that he will be the successor of the resigning manager. However, the owner of the theater, Szalai, is asking Imre Hamar, an older man from a completely different field with no theatrical experience, to be the manager. Bálint is about to prepare a large-scale Romeo and Juliet performance with his actors, when Imre interrupts the rehearsal to introduce himself and outline the new situation… New leader, completely different leadership principles. Can a private theater on the brink of bankruptcy be saved?

During the freedom fight led by Rákóczi, Schwartzenau carries the wages of the Emperor's soldiers to Tokaj. A small group of freedom-fighters, led by Captain Árvay, attack the major's escort, then hide in the local inn. Árvay introduces himself to the entering Schartzenau as a Hungarian aristocrat, while Simon Pali rushes to get help. The major has a passion for games, they start throwing dice.

An exploration of a decaying synagogue.

Five-Fingered Dude is no longer on the force, running a yacht club, when a prostitute is found dead. The case is taken over by Doctor Kardos, eager but clumsy. Meanwhile, a kidnapping case becomes entangled. Doctor Kardos is in charge of the "fight" from the front line, using all "modern" means. The investigation would not succeed without the intervention of Tiny and her little team.

Nelly has as many as two suitors; the handsome but light-minded Miklós, - who even made a conquest of mother - and Gyula, the inhibited weakling yet with a secure income.

Tamás Szánthó is conducting a concert, while his young wife and her secret lover play in the same theatre in the Tragedy of Man

Nightmares submerge into reality and intertwine as we follow the everyday lives of ordinary people living in a parallel reality called The Quarantine Zone during the pandemic lockdown of 2020/21.

Two relationship dramas run parallel - the issue of having children that ties them together and the issue of having children that tears them apart. Perhaps they have more in common: a fear of commitment, of responsibility, of loneliness, of each other and of themselves. What they have in common is what tears them apart. Their inability to live together, their inability to be honest.

Socially anxious guy meets deaf girl on a night out in Budapest.

The title of the film is the date on which the editorial staff of Hungary’s largest opposition newspaper, Népszabadság, was fired. The filmmaker tore up copies of that day’s issue, layered them, and then turned them into an urgent collage expressing his yearning for the free expression of opposition viewpoints. The visible edges of the film emphasize the impossibility of presenting information in a complete context.

In the 1600s, Hungary is plundered by the Turks and the Laban. Kecskemét, the free royal city, is not exempt from this. Miska, the wily son of Lestyák, a master tailor, suggests to the town council that they should ask for a permanent beacon from Buda, thus protecting Kecskemét from the harassment of raiding troops. The town assembles its gift of jewellery, cloth and a beautiful girl, and Miska sets off for Buda. On the way, the young gypsy girl falls in love with Mishka, who elopes with her in a boy's dress. He can do this because instead of the bewitchment he hopes for, he is given only a fancy robe to protect the city. Little do they know at the time how much the robe is worth. Before its wearer, all true believers will crumble to dust and do his bidding.

Baradla Géza, war criminal, returns after 25 years, with his ex-accomplice, Obrád Simon, to the village where he burned houses with people inside and executed partisans. The ex squad-leader is chased to this place by his "heroic deed" and the memory of his love. Like a maniac, he wants to forgive the village residents for having killed six of his soldiers.

Our old friends Bence the Great Hunter, Andris, aka Mr. Doolittle, the Painter and then Bonca the Bird appear in this film. But then Nora appears and everything goes haywire. The film follows Nora and her mum as they become "Bonca".

Lohmann's son is kidnapped. The un-known kidnappers get a thirty-thousand-jewel from the West German millionaire as ransom. The eager police lieutenant-colonel, Gálffy finds that the traces lead to a mysterious, elegant blonde, who is naturally a brunette.

János Arany was nineteen years old when he left the Reformed College in Debrecen and became a travelling actor. He is stubbornly silent about this period in his memoirs, and he is already over fifty by the time he first puts his acting adventure on paper in his unfinished poem novel, Foolish Gods, calling himself Istók.The film by Gábor Rohonyi and Georgina Hegedűs, starring Ágoston Liber, depicts the lesser-known but all the more adventurous early years of one of the most important figures in Hungarian literature, mixing the story of his growing up with romantic elements and the road movie genre.

In the once prosperous village of Duka, in Vas county, with its fertile border, only five families are now engaged in agriculture. Of the one hundred and fifty peasant families, these are all that remain today. How did fate choose them and how long can they survive this struggling existence?

A 5 minute dolly shot of people waiting in line for food filmed in beautiful black and white accompanied by music by Mihály Vig. This short was Béla Tarr's contribution to the Visions of Europe project.

After his study tour abroad, Simándy Pál, the Protestant pastor, returns to his homeland, Transylvania. In the church of Magyargarabó which lacked a priest for a long time, the bells are ringing again. The young priest devotedly serves his vocation in the village which becomes more and more Romanian. He falls in love with Florica, the daughter of the Orthodox pope. The girl returns his love. In the novel, the lovers are torn apart, as the pope is the paid spy of the Romanian anti-Hungarian League, but the film has a happy ending: Simándy and Florica unite in happiness. The film was originally produced in 1916 and presented in 1922 completed with some film and stage scenes.

A satirical tale of the adaptation, casting and rehearsal of a theatrical version of Winnie-the-Pooh.

The archduke's grandfather wants to thwart the love between Princess Erzsébet and András Balogh, a young man of lower rank. He sends Erzsébet to Switzerland and András Balogh to Warsaw as an embassy secretary. However, Erzsébet follows András to Warsaw, where they both become embroiled in criminal complications when András has to return home with important diplomatic documents. Back home, it turns out that everything happened so that Erzsébet could soften the archduke's grandfather's heart and rescue András from the predicament he got himself into for Erzsébet's sake... The film is set in Warsaw, and the exterior shots were taken just before the outbreak of World War II, so the film still shows Warsaw intact.

Laci is facing maturation and he wants to work, but his intellectual parents want him to be at the university. Laci feels lonely, because back home the centre is his younger brother and he also deceived in Zsuzsa, his class mate. The girl is already an accomplished pop singer, member of the Illés, and she only returns the love of Laci as a friend. But through Zsuzsa he can meet the members of the well-established group, whose members even lend him their instruments for the concert of the school group. They also play together and another brown girl cheers him already.

Two teenage girls murder a taxi-driver. A portrait of a generation for which sex has a whole different meaning.

Adam is an obedient child. But when her mother asks him to get rid of newborn puppies, Adam hesitates.

A teenager filmbuff and a single woman in her forties meet each other. Then they meet again and start to realize that they might have more in common, than meets the eye, and form an unlikely connection.

A young woman on board of a bus notices that her watch has been stolen. The ticket collector keeps everybody on board, and upon the advice of a traffic police, they drive directly to the nearest police station.

Kata sets off to meet her boyfriend's parents for the first time, but stops after getting off the train. Is she really ready for their relationship to get this serious? Is she ready for adult life? In order to think about all this, she needs to break away from her usual everyday life for a day in order to experience the forgotten feeling of youth and freedom in a dreamlike adventure.

A surrealistic cutout animated short.

Sara is an orphan who has always lived in her grandparents' house. Now after their death she has to leave her home, but she won't have to go through everything alone, her two cousins will help her to move forward.

1 bank. 5 people. 2 guns. The story is about a not usual bank robbery.

When his new wife from a peasant background is not accepted by his colleagues, a University Professor resigns his post and returns home to his rural village. After receiving popular support, he is returned to his position by the Minister of Education.