Discoveries from Hungary World Cinema

Documentary about a hostel for workers. An old worker suspected of stealing a motor gets fired from the factory and must leave the hostel.

In a rural scenery in the throes of difficult changes lives a humble but promising young farmer girl called Mari Pataki. Her father forbids her from seeing the man she loves. The father, above all preoccupied by work on the fields and prospective wealth, decides to give his daughter in marriage to an old but rich man with whom he does business. Land marries land, he says. This seems to be the unyielding rule of the Hungarian peasantry. But the young lover is ready to stand up to any challenge to keep Maris love.

This award-winning animated mind-bender is a by turns whimsical, mysterious, and psychotropic vision of deep-space discovery.

The film condenses the awkwardness of country and functionary existence, consumer thinking based on paternalistic relationships into the sequence of events of 20 August, the feast of the Hungarian new loaf with sentimental irony and documentary credibility. A railwayman's family on the Balaton highlands expects the Budapest relative with his functionary boss and family.

The Hungarian Oh, Bloody Life reflects on the heavy emotional toll taken by the repressive Stalin regime. Dorotya Udvaros plays a young actress from a high-born family. The government bias against persons of wealth threatens to destroy her career before it begins. As a final blow, she is threatened with deportation. The exasperation inherent in the film's title is only the tip of the iceberg.

When we started filming six months ago, we had originally intended to make a film solely about vote-buying. We gathered information from 14 counties, conducted more than 60 interviews, and traveled 20,000 kilometers. According to our interviewees, the lives and votes of rural people are influenced not only by money, but also by drugs and threats. Mayors, insiders, law enforcement officials, and victims explain how this network operates and how it affects those whose votes matter most.

A single gunshot and a pointed toothpick drive Lali to abandon his life and disappear, only to find himself stranding Feri, a high-profile Budapest lawyer, at the Üvegtigris snack bar while Lali hops into Feri’s Bentley convertible. As the pair roar through the city, Lali’s sudden swagger attracts a dazzling woman - and then another - launching him on an outrageous day of living large. What began as an impulsive escape becomes Lali’s wildest adventure yet, filled with fast cars, femme fatales and the thrill of starting over.

In Budapest’s Sixth District stands the “Noah’s Ark”, a “dirty-beautiful” tenement housing thirteen flats filled with a rapper, a poet, a washed-up footballer, an unfaithful wife, three aspiring actresses, retired cinema director Stock Ede and his home-bound octogenarian friend Aurél Tálas. When Ede, long disgusted by TV game shows, shocks everyone by entering “Hungary’s Best Grandpa” contest for a 5 million-forint prize, the building erupts in excitement.

A war veteran tells his personal experience in “The War” to a psychiatrist, as a part of a social experiment. But nothing is as it seems…

Margot, a brilliant young scientist with a troubled marriage, disappears inexplicably while hiking with her husband Sam and a group of friends. A few weeks later, she miraculously reappears the day of her own memorial service. Margot is clearly not the same as before the accident. Nevertheless, Sam sees his wife’s miraculous reappearance as a second chance.

It is 1680 – the time of dreamt snow after the Turkish invasion. In the deserted plains of Bácska a living soul cannot be found in a few-days’ walk. Three former prisoners returning from their Turkish captivity – Long-Legged, Lame and One-Eyed – appear among the crumbling walls of a huge abandoned church without a roof. They are looking for their long lost home. How to revive a disappeared civilization? What is the survivors’ personal duty? Without a roof, a collapse is inevitable. The Old Man – a master of ancient knowledge – and his daughter come and with sharing sowing seeds they try to save the community of dispersion. No spiritual leader, no aims. Driven by rapacity, One-Eyed kills the Old Man, rapes his daughter and while looking for the remaining seeds he kills Long-Legged with a sudden anger. At the end of the film, the survivors need to face with dramatic encounters and special temptations. Their redemption under the leadership of Lame’s young son is the pledge for the future.

Three women from three generations are forced together, mentored by an old diva and a transvestite, to form a band. They are successful on stage, but off of it they are not getting along at all.

Tamás is a young, Budapest-based director of video clips and commercials who dreams of directing his...

Transylvania during the reign of the great prince Mihály Apafi I. The Turk asks Prince Apafi for another tribute, and the Prince sends him two hundred gold pieces with Kristoff Szitáry. His two sons accompanied him halfway. On the way, they stop at the house of the caliph Pisliczar and spend the night there, and in the morning only Kristóf Szitáry continues his journey to Oradea. The Pasha is happy to receive him, but as soon as he opens the bags of money, stones and pieces of horseshoe fall out.

1852. Gáspár Noszlopy escapes from prison in order to capture the emperor, who is to visit Hungary, with his companions and force him to sign the Declaration of Independence. He is only able to find four fanatic men, as his one-time soldiers have already accepted the established order as unalterable, each of them having found a satisfactory way of life and unwilling to undertake a suicidal experiment.

Jimmy Jaguar, aka Jagu, is a demon who drifts from soul to soul, awakening something dark within. His hosts become vessels of revenge. But whose revenge? And why do their victims, chosen with no clear pattern, all seem to share the same eerie trait? They are alive only because “it is against the law to kill them”.

The film is a stage play hybrid showcasing dark and absurd sketches based on contemporary Hungarian news of the 2000's with campy, senseless musical interludes in-between. Highly experimental in nature that - like Marmite - will split its' crowd into ones that'll love it and others that'll loathe it. There's no middle grounds here. The topics included are: The Hungarian Olympians' doping scandal, political terrorism, the national elections... and more.

November 1664. The autumnal peace of the Kursanec forest is suddenly shattered by the noise of a hunting party. The leader of the hunters is Miklós Zrínyi, one of the most powerful men in the country. Neither he nor the members of the merry party can imagine how the day will end. The film presents a tragic event in Hungarian history, which is still not fully understood and which will later affect the fate of the whole country. Hunting accident or assassination? There are many theories and explanations, rumours and anecdotes about the events of this autumn day. Is it plausible that the life of a renowned general, an excellent hunter and a respected poet should come to such a fatal end? Who was he whose terrible fate was facilitated even by such potentates as Louis XIV, the Sun King?

Eager to impress the Queen of Sheeba, a young Solomon accidentally releases the devil Asmodeus from his prison. With the Kingdom of Jerusalem in peril, Solomon and Princess Naama work together to find an end to Asmodeus' evil rule.

Story of the owners (Mastroianni and Schygulla) of a fancy nightclub in Budapest before and during WWII.

Nagy István, the formerly poor peasant boy returns to his native village as a teacher. His conviction is that the abyss between rich and poor can be diminished by good will. The rich Böröcz Horváth Klári returns his love, and also Böröcz Horváth is willing to help the poorest family, the Bakos. Bakos Jóska, who was sent to serve the tough Böröcz Horváth as a payment, dies of an infected wound and the people in the village hold the teacher liable as well. Nagy István realises, that the abyss cannot be ceased, what is more, it is impassable. He breaks up with his fiancée and stands by the side of the poor.

From the film-shooting in the Buda Castle Marci and his friend go to a well-paying job. The scene is a big castle in the middle of a huge park. They enjoy the company of the Kid and the beautiful naked French girl, Nathalie. Their job is to watch the monitors on which they can see the Moscow coup détat. By the time Gorbachev is executed the Communist and the Nationalists have taken turns in occupying the castle and the park.

János Baksa-Soós, aka Prince January. A man who influenced those who influenced us. “Sometimes you have to make time for a whole life!” he said. He did, and we explored his incredible life. Starting from Zoltán Kodály, we fly over downtown KEX concerts, dive into the deepest recesses of Berlin punk and end up who knows where. Somewhere in the cosmos.

Alex (26) is an asexual guy who wants to have a romantic relationship with his best friend Eli (25), who is a nymphomaniac. Alex is trying to do everything he can to take his relationship with Eli to the next level and to finally confess his feelings to her. He wants to win Eliz's heart through dates, joint activities, attention and help, but soon finds himself confronted with the fact that he has to try the unwanted route because of Eliz's addiction. The cycles of body and soul, finding a balance between selfishness and selflessness, leaving a toxic relationship, and learning about and accepting oneself are all themes explored in the film.

This film tells the story of a few uneventful days in the life of six pals. Lali, a great fan of America, owns a sandwich stand on the side of the road, called The Glass Tiger. Gaben pinches cars; Fox is a petty swindler; Sanyi a half-wit homeless; Coco can't shut up about getting some dough and going to America; Slimmy keeps playing the saxophone, despite the others' frayed nerves. Gaben talks Lali into buying an old Chevrolet Impala, the real American dream. After the long escapade of getting the car, Lali doesn't even get the chance to try the Chevvy out, because a truck completely demolishes it. Fox in the meantime is looking excitedly for the "Wreck", what he has been trying to sell for big money. But Lali has sold what he thought to be scrap, not good for anything. Fox is threatened by some tough guys to bring it back or pay up. He has to get money at all costs...

1952, Budapest. Kati is thirteen years old when her mother dies. Her father works as a founder at the Miskolc foundry, deprived of his former position of director-engineer. Kati is left alone in their flat, transformed into a place crowded with tenants. That is, not quite: in her imagination her mother is alive again, for she still needs her.

Edina, a female bodybuilder, is ready to sacrifice everything for the dream she shares with Adam, her partner and trainer: to win the Miss Olympia competition. The odd love she finds on her way there makes her see the difference between her dreams and her true self.

Lajos Kovács (WINGS OF DESIRE) stars as the misused Woyzeck, who ekes out a miserable existence sweeping train tracks, running errands for a bullying army captain and acting as a human guinea pig for a local doctor with ideas about free will. When his common-law wife begins an affair with a local cop, Woyzeck's pocket Bible and near-starvation diet point him on a downward spiral of twisted redemption.

The story of a young servant girl who comes to work on the construction site of a large-scale industrial settlement. She decides to embark on an independent life, runs away from her foster parents, gets on a train and sets out to earn money. Modest and shy, she joins the factory's group of "Stakhanovites" and soon makes new comrades. Her coworkers accept her into their team.

In the summer of 2004, a group of filmmakers embarked on a project in Budapest, capturing the city's essence with several dozen rolls of Kodachrome 40 Super 8mm film. Although they utilized only a small portion of the footage at the time, the material remained untouched for nearly two decades. In 2024, they rediscovered this treasure, breathing new life into it by adding sound and music. They returned to the same urban locations, now equipped with digital technology, to create a fresh narrative that intertwines the past with the present.

Gábor Bozsó is a professional burglar. His daughter Éva, who knows nothing about her father's profession, is raised in an upscale institution. When she falls in love with one of her father's victims, things take a big change.

The tumultuous history of Hungary through the twentieth century is viewed through the saga of the Hungarian-Jewish, furniture-manufacturing family, the Vendels. After taking over the once successful, but now failing, family business in the 1930s, the family patriarch's dashing elder son decides that the family needs an infusion of new blood. A matchmaker presents him with a photo of a pretty German nursery school teacher. When the two meet, they instantly fall in love, but because Hungary has an alliance with Germany, and the Third Reich prohibits marriage between Gentiles and Jews, the couple must hide their union. Their marriage ultimately stands as a dark foreshadowing of rougher times to come as troubles ensue with the advent of World War II, when the family, its employees and servants must retreat to the basement, where the shop emerges increasingly as a refuge in a world growing more violent and less tolerant.

The film, depicting life in the tenement houses of Angyalföld in the thirties joins the neorealist currents of Hungarian film. Ambrus Pista, the good humoured, attractive tram conductor is loved by women for his excellent job as well. With his lover, the street-walker Terus they spy upon the neighbour as he beats his wife in jealousy.

Based on the Hungarian novel "Our Street" by Sandor Tar, the film deals with a post-apocalyptic Hungarian-Ukranian village where everything is rotten, planes randomly crash, and only alcohol moves people around - no money, no electricity, only barter. In this wasteland, Ocsenas is the only hero, the one trying to survive amidst the savages and war, the one who helps everyone out, all while caught up in a love triangle that will define his future.

A feature length, lively - montage style - documentary, capturing the essence of what life was like in socialist Hungary's conscript army, using contemporary videos.

Zsigmond Móricz wrote his novel Butterfly in just a few days in 1924. Móricz tells the story of a mighty love that triumphs over adversity and is all-powerful in the language of ordinary people. The love of Zsuzsika and Jóska is presented through the "lightning and veil-soft" emotions of the director, László Vitézy's television adaptation. After The Legend of Hortobágy (Komorló) and The Sky Bird, this is the third film made by László Vitézy based on the writings of Zsigmond Móricz.

After a 15-year absence, the famous actress' expatriate husband returns to Hungary to settle their divorce. The actress is rehearsing the role of a young boy back home when her husband walks in. Seeing the little boy, the husband thinks that Janika is his child, but the actress fails to inform him of the mistake.

The heart-wrenching story of The Citizen begins with a citizenship exam, where the examination committee rigorously questions a middle-aged African man. No matter how beautifully he recites Hungarian poetry, Wilson, a political refugee in his late fifties, fails the exams for the umpteenth time, because he doesn’t know where the periodical ‘Magyar Közlöny’ got its name from, and what the Corvinae are. Moreover, inspired by Vörösmarty’s poem, the committee chairman even questions his reasons for leaving his mother country. Wilson argues that his reasons include his fellow citizens cutting pregnant women in half, yet he doesn’t manage to soften the heart of the committee members.

The science of Pál Varga is famous far and wide: no one can make shoes and topazes like him. The news reaches the court of King Dúlfúl, and the little princess gets it into her head to have him make her a shoe shoe. But her father sends his messenger to Paul Varga, but he is not up to the task, because a lot of poor girls' shoes are waiting to be repaired. Princess Tweety then decides to go to the boastful Varga herself. She dresses up as a maid and goes to the crow. All is well until the young master takes a measure of her. But then he finds that a servant girl who does hard work should not walk on such legs. Tweety reveals herself and finally gets Paul Varga to go to his father's court and submit to the trials.

A gay affair between an aging middle-aged writer, and a young streetwise hustler.

A widow, whose politician husband was killed in the Communist purge of Hungary, and her ill son are given money by the government to start a foundation for stray dogs.

Via the New York Times: "The Hungarian director Gyula Gazdag has transposed the middle section of Balzac's "Lost Illusions" from Paris in the mid-19th century to the Budapest of 1968... it tells of Laszlo Sardi - Balzac's Lucien Chardon - and his efforts to launch his literary career amid the snobbery and sophistication of a big city."

The drama "The Hunter" gives an insight into the life of Istvan after a tragic hunting accident breaks his relationship with his wife. Isolated from the world, Istvan tries to start a new life in a run-down hunting lodge. But his wife's indifference and Istvan's futile attempts to repair their relationship slowly drive him mad. The question is whether Istvan will be able to find a way out of his loneliness and past traumas, or whether he will sink into a dark vortex of madness.

Contemporary genre-painting of a Hungarian "middle class" family of four. The scene is the villa apartment almost finished, where the tourist guide mother, father who also works for the second economy and the lonely big girl preparing for her maturity examination turn up alternatively. It is only the teen-ager boy who really "lives" in this place: instead of attending school he stays home all day and observes the life of the surrounding by a self-made periscope. Internal communication of the family is accomplished in writing, on the pin-up board in the kitchen.

Iván Berend is a nobleman from the countryside, owner of considerable wealth. If necessary, he duels and plays cards like his fellow gentry, if necessary, he dances and compliments like most cavaliers. But far from him is this high life. He prefers to lecture on natural history, and does not hesitate to prove his claims by burning a diamond. He runs the Bondavar mine and experiments on a fire extinguishing agent. Evila, the beautiful starlet, and her impetuous fiancé, Peter Szaffrán, work in the mine. They are hired by the Viennese banker Félix Kaulmann to help him with his grand plan for the coal basin, which will ruin Ivan Berend.

In 2021, modest Hungarian cattle farm worker Feci joins an organised tour of the South of France with his wife Klara. The trip sees the couple take a plane for the first fime and places them outside of their comfort zone. A couple, more seasoned travellers, takes them under their wing, but on their arrival at Nice airport, Feci is forced to quarantine in the hotel due to a mix-up over his COVID test. Excluded from an excursion booked while he was in quarantine, Feci takes a life-changing tour of Provencal monasteries on his own, while Klara sets off with her newfound friends.

A heartwarming story about a group of small, seemingly insignificant creatures who discover their inner strength and courage, banding together as a team to overcome significant challenges, demonstrating the importance of responsibility and the power of working together, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds.

The story follows Csongor, a young man on a quest to reunite with his true love, Tünde, accompanied by his loyal but clumsy friend, Balga. Along the way, they encounter various characters who challenge Csongor’s views on life and love. However, an evil force, Mirigy, threatens to derail Csongor’s journey and his faith in true love.

Andrei, the Russian astronaut, has been conducting his research in space on the MIR space station for months, but his landing is being delayed. His wife Svetlana calls him regularly from the space centre by video phone. A casual quarrel between the two (she forgot to pay the gas bill) gives Svetlana the opportunity to tell Andrei that she is seeing someone and that she is leaving him. She runs all the way to Rome after her Italian lover. A virgin black girl meets a man who wants only one thing: to take her innocence. A woman criminal psychologist, with an almost personal interest, "interrogates" a prisoner who breaks down and confesses, while the psychologist's life is shattered... An old man's ear is cut off by a hairdresser and an intimate relationship develops between the two.

Vászka, the town robber, is off his form. He has no money and Luvnya, his sweetheart, constantly clamors for a trip to Moscow. His problems are solved when he meets Ványka, the village robber. The two robbers enter into an alliance and start working together.

Relationship dramedy about an everyday couple adventuring through the confusing thrills of non-monogamy.

There are mysterious murders in the area of ​​Lake Balaton. These places are shrouded in secrecy and constantly attract hunters: during the Second World War, the Germans had hidden a huge treasure here. Investigation of the murders entrusted to Major Kardos. He takes up the case, but in search of treasure he had many competitors. Kardos uses help from his loyal friend - a policeman-superman Etvash aka "Droplet".

The subject of this film is Dr. Ivan Egry, a young man, who becomes infatuated with Edit Ralben, the beautiful, but flirtatious, daughter of a prominent man. As the two get involved romantically, problems start to plague their relationship. When they end up separating, Ivan finds comfort with Josza, a pretty girl, much more stable than Edit, but far less glamorous. When Edit eventually re-enters Ivan’s life, he can’t resist her. Unable to resolve his conflicting emotions results in an abruptly tragic finale.

In the country reformatory school both the teacher and the children are trapped by the circumstances. From among the pupils excels Sanyi, who cannot accept the fact that his mother does not love him and he keeps on escaping after her. From among the teachers it is Mr. Csőrös who distinguishes himself by listening to the children, looking for those who escaped, Sanyi feels affection to him.

A fictional account of the 1958 attack against the Hungarian embassy in Bern. Based on a true story about the aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

Dezso falls off his bike and goes to the hospital. As he wanders between buildings and waits in hallways, he slowly realizes: he might not have come here just to get better.