Budapest-Hollywood film festival

Hungarian crime film, colour, 1982, dir: Ferenc András, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 109’

Directed by Ferenc András
Screenplay by Ferenc András, Miklós Munkácsi
Director of photography: Elemér Ragályi
Zene: György Vukán, György Kovács
Cast: György Cserhalmi , Gladkowska Maria - Mari Kiss, Hédi Temessy, Zita Perczel, Péter Blaskó, László Szabó, Ferenc Bács, Mariann Moór, Dorottya Udvaros
Genre: crime

Taxi driver József Simon is robbed by two elderly lady passengers. In vain does the divorced, debt-ridden man turn to the police, they simply don’t believe him. In his impotence he starts doing his own investigation and quickly comes across the professional thieves. Since he has lost faith in justice being served legally, he sets off on a one-man campaign using increasingly professional methods. In this work Ferenc András placed the Hungarian thriller on new foundations and his influence is apparent in nearly all thrillers made since.

Hungarian animated film, colour, 1979, dir: György Kovásznai, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 80’

Directed by György Kovásznai
Screenplay by György Kovásznai
Director of photography: Árpád Lossonczy
Music by János Másik
Cast (voice): Anna Papp, Katalin Dobos, Katalin Bontovics, Albert Antalffy
Genre: animation

Zsolt, the shop window-dresser and misunderstood artist, flees to Anni, the colleague of his bride, on his wedding day. At the time, Anni is preparing in her rented room for her fifth entrance examination to the medical university. Zsolt persuades Anni to call his bride and tell her he has changed his mind, he won’t marry her… The unique work by György Kovásznai is for adults, it is an experimental musical with bold style that radically runs counter to Hungarian traditions of the cartoon genre.

 

Directed by: Alfréd Deésy
Written by: József Pakots
Produced by: Richárd Geiger
Cast: Gyula Margittay, Kamilla Hollay, Denise Pantol, Margit Timár, Annie Gaál, Richard Tobbe, Gusztáv Turán, Norbert Dán
Star Film Factory, 1918

Veronika, the daughter of the landowner Redwitz, who has emigrated to America and is impoverished by his passion for gambling, is raised by the neighbour Baroness Rajk with the family jewels she inherited from her mother. After the jewels run out, Veronika is banished from the house. Desperate, Veronika marries a talented but poor composer, George Tischler, who soon falls ill. His treatment is paid for by Baroness Rajk on the condition that Veronika returns to them and conceals her marriage and child from her father, who has returned home from America rich. 

The silent film 'The Maiden' is accompanied by piano music by Daniel Kendik. 

Daniel Kendik is a Hungary-based multi-instrumentalist and media composer. He studied 12 years of classical music theory and piano from the age of 6. In the meantime, he picked up and learned other instruments such as the drums, guitar, and some woodwinds, as well.
He has participated in and won several art and piano competitions throughout his music career. In 2022, he won the silent film scoring competition hosted by the Valley of Arts (the largest art festival in Hungary) and the National Film Institute.

Daniel Kendik's website

 

Hungarian comedy, bw, 1935, dir: László Kardos, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 70’

Directed by László Kardos
Written by Pál Vári, István Mihály, Frigyes Karinthy
Director of photography: István Eiben
Music by Miklós Brodszky
Cast: S.Z. Szakall, Éva Szörényi, Imre Ráday, Tivadar Bilicsi, Éva Fenyvessy, Lajos Gárdonyi, Antal Páger
Genre: comedy

Frigyes Karinthy, a true fan of motion pictures, was one of the writers on László Kardos’s amiable comedy Keep Smiling! Cameraman Mihály Blazsek, acted by S.Z. Sakall (Szőke Szakáll - blonde beard), important character actor in Casablanca and many other hit Hollywood films, tricks well-heeled Miklós Dénes returning from England into marrying his daughter, Éva. He snaps the man holding tight onto the girl and this picture is published in the press under the line ‘Dénes and his fiancée’. In this film, Antal Páger – exceptionally – plays a melancholic character, despite which he still gets a few uproarious, truly original punchlines. When the errand boy asks the sad man sitting on the bench smoking: “Are you sitting here?”, the cool, elegant response is: “No, my boy, I’m cycling on the Eiffel Tower”. The great Hungarian writer makes his presence felt in these one-liners and this puts the film slightly above the countless other light entertainment comedies typical for the period.

 

The National Film Institute-Film Archive's education and youth programme invites children of all ages to its film workshop!

During the workshop, you will have the opportunity to make your own animated short film on a 35 mm filmstrip. You will also have the chance to try out and learn about pre-cinema optical devices such as the praxinoscope, the thaumatrope, the phenakistiscope and the zoetrope.

We look forward to welcoming you!

American drama, bw, 1942, dir: Michael Curtiz, Language: English, Subtitles: Hungarian, 102’

Directed by Michael Curtiz
Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, Casey Robinson
Director of photography: Arthur Edeson
Music by Max Steiner
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Hendreid
Genre: drama
Production: Warner Brothers

In 2019, Hungarian films were shown with the titles Curtiz and Empty Horses, with one of Hollywood’s most important figures – Michael Curtiz – taking the lead role. Then it would be possible to start listing the numbers: how many languages they speak in Casablanca (at least 30), how many different screenplays went through how many writers’ hands (around a dozen) in how many days, and why was it so difficult for Peter Lorre, who we can own as being of Hungarian origin, to play the antihero (his family ended up as victims during the Holocaust), and the Epstein brothers were the first twins to receive an Oscar, and in how many films we can often hear quoted the final line of the film. And one could go on... Whatever the case, this film, and numerous other films by Curtiz, that is, Kertész, became key elements of the American identity. A workaholic director born in Budapest and creating in a variety of styles was the person who brought style to American cinema. In this film, everyone has style.