On October 23, 2023, Lajos Koltai's film Semmelweis was shown for the first time to the public at the New York Museum of Moving Image to commemorate the anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and War of Independence. The event was attended by János Csák, Minister of Culture and Innovation, Csaba Káel, Government Commissioner for Film, António Guterres, UN Secretary General and Stewart Simonson, Deputy Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The director said that he did not want to make a scientific film, but rather to show the doctor's journey and struggles. Vecsei. H. Miklós who is Semmelweis in the film, had to face the great and respected professors of his time in order to assert his will and faith, and thus to write himself forever in history. The production gives an insight into the hospital environment of the 19th century, where the greatest enemy was childbed fever. It was this 'monster' that Semmelweis was up against, and for this reason he was considered by his contemporaries to be mad and faddish.
As Minister János Csák told the public media, the "saviour of mothers" made history in a malicious and abusive world. The Minister for Culture and Innovation drew parallels between Ignác Semmelweis and the recent Nobel Prize winner Katalin Kariko, saying that both had dedicated their lives to saving others and both had created something revolutionary. Dr. Csenge Palotai, Director of the Liszt Institute New York said that the film was shown at the commemoration on 23 October because Ignác Semmelweis, in his own time, played as heroic and revolutionary a role as the guys from Pest in 1956.
The screening was followed by a standing reception and a light painting, courtesy of the Burning Bulbs group to pay tribute to the revolutionaries of 1956. One of this year's biggest cultural diplomacy events attended 260 people including ambassadors from Africa to Asia.
The film will be screened again on 27 October at the Los Angeles Hungarian Film Festival. The domestic premiere will take place on 30 November.
