Mephisto

Mephisto 1981

7.18

A German stage actor finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-WWII Germany. As his associates and friends flee or are ground under by the Nazi terror, the popularity of his character supercedes his own existence until he finds that his best performance is keeping up appearances for his Nazi patrons.

1981

Red Psalm

Red Psalm 1972

6.20

Set in the 1890s on the Hungarian plains, a group of farm workers go on strike in which they face harsh reprisals and the reality of revolt, oppression, morality and violence.

1972

The Red and the White

The Red and the White 1967

7.10

In 1919, Hungarian Communists aid the Bolsheviks' defeat of Czarists, the Whites. Near the Volga, a monastery and a field hospital are held by one side and then the other.

1967

Stars of Eger

Stars of Eger 1968

7.37

This romantic and grandiose historical film depicts the era of the constant incursions and heroic battles fought by the defenders of the castle of Eger, led by captain István Dobó, against the heavy odds of superior numbers through the lives and love of Bornemissza Gergely and Cecey Éva. Gergely is inaugurated as a fighter already at the age of 7, when he escapes the captivity of the half-eyed Turk, Jumurdzsak, with Vica and the war-booty. In thirty years' time he becomes the first assistant of captain Dobó and the brain of the castle in the defence of Eger.

1968

Silence and Cry

Silence and Cry 1968

7.10

Set during a turbulent era of disquiet, fear, persecution and terror, which permeates every corner of post-WWI Hungarian society. In 1919, after just a few months of communist rule the Hungarian Republic of Councils falls victim to a nationalist counter-revolution. Admiral Horthy, leader of the nationalist far right movement, becomes the self-proclaimed regent of Hungary, and assumes power as the legal Head of State. Soldiers of the short-lived Hungarian Red Army are now on the run from relentless secret policemen and patrol units of the nationalist Royal Gendarme. If caught, ex-Red Army soldiers are executed without mercy or proper trial. István Cserzi, a former soldier of the Red Army has fled to the Great Hungarian Plains and has taken refuge on a farm, which is run by two sympathetic women. Due to the generosity of these women and a former childhood pal...

1968

Dear Emma, Sweet Böbe

Dear Emma, Sweet Böbe 1992

6.10

The story shows Emma's and Böbe's fight for survival, for keeping their position in society which they achieved with hard work in the previous regime. They don't want to lose their place and become village girls again.

1992

The Witness

The Witness 1979

8.14

Hungary, 1950s. József Pelikán, who works as a dam keeper on the Danube, meets by chance Zoltán Dániel, an old friend whom he saved from death years before and who is now a powerful politician.

1979

The Girl

The Girl 1968

6.70

A young woman leaves a state orphanage to find her mother in this interesting examination of how the overt repression of women in the older pattern of village life has been replaced by the more subtle exploitation inherent in the apparently freer existence of young girls in the contemporary city.

1968

Eskimo Woman Feel Cold

Eskimo Woman Feel Cold 1984

6.60

The film is about a piano player who falls in love with Mari, a beautiful blond woman, who happens to be the wife of a deaf-mute animal caretaker. Both men adore Mari, as she loves both of them. Albeit all of them know this way won't stand.

1984

Diary for My Children

Diary for My Children 1984

6.96

After having lost her parents, young Juli returns from the Soviet Union to her native Budapest. Scarred by the wounds of the past, the ghost of Stalin’s oppression haunts her as she reunites with her aunt and adoptive mother Magda.

1984

Merry-Go-Round

Merry-Go-Round 1956

7.80

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.

1956

Story of My Foolishness

Story of My Foolishness 1965

1

The celebrated actor considers his wife a nitwits actress of a mediocre talent. But an influential playwright, a friend of theirs, has written a play with the main role designed for her, Kati, particularly. Its title is "The Most Intelligent Woman in the World". On the day of the first night performance Kati recalls their past, the times she had together with her husband.

1965

Sound Eroticism

Sound Eroticism 1986

6.70

In the box factory standing in the middle of nowhere only women work, and they themselves only waste their time, as the unmarketable boxes pile up in the yards. The fireman in duty, who stores stolen gasoline in the inflammable plant, sets up cameras in the women's locker room the sake of 'business'.

1986

Stephen, the King

Stephen, the King 1984

7.18

István, a király ("Stephen, the King") is a Hungarian rock opera written by Levente Szörényi (music) and János Bródy (lyrics), based on the life of Saint Stephen of Hungary. The storyline was based on the play Ezredforduló (Turn of the Millennium) by Miklós Boldizsár, who co-wrote the libretto. The opera was first staged in 1983 on an open-air stage in Budapest. This first performance was also made into a 1984 film, directed by Gábor Koltay, and its music released on an album. The musical became a smash hit and is still very popular in Hungary and among Hungarian minorities in neighboring countries.

1984

The Prefab People

The Prefab People 1982

6.40

Using verite conventions, a young couple with a baby and a child are worn away by the monotony of their lives.

1982

Father

Father 1966

6.60

The beginning shows Hungary devastated by the war and the postwar reconstruction with its communist government. Our hero (played first by Dániel Erdély and later, as a young man, by András Bálint) is clearly determined to find out what he can about his father who died young. All he knows is that he was a doctor and perhaps he was an honored victim of fascism. He never really finds out but his relationship with his mother, his friends and his Jewish girlfriend will make him totally independent of this need to find all about Apa or Father.

1966

The Fifth Seal

The Fifth Seal 1976

8.07

In 1944 Budapest, one of a group of four friends poses a hypothetical moral question to the others, an act that will unexpectedly alter their lives forever.

1976

Hold on to the Clouds

Hold on to the Clouds 1971

5.00

In 1919, in Petrograd, a pilot Sevastyanov was asked to help in training flight personnel for the young Hungarian republic, together with a Hungarian journalist he makes a desperate, with many adventures, flight across the front to Hungary ...

1971

Sinbad

Sinbad 1971

7.15

Based on the stories of Hungarian writer Gyula Krúdy, this iconic film is a lush and sensuous depiction of the life, loves and memories of serial seducer Szindbád.

1971

The Corporal and the Others

The Corporal and the Others 1965

7.75

PFC Molnár decides his WWII services are over, and with serious money hidden in his hand grenades, he heads to an abandoned mansion where he encounters not only the sour butler but a bunch of others who also try to wimp out of their duties.

1965