László Ferencz

The story recalling the spirit of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian king quarrelling with his approaching death, takes place in a cancer hospital in Budapest. Dávid, the young ethnography scientist resigned to his lot and is indifferent to his approaching death. His specialist reckons, however, that such a searching and stubborn mind with thorough knowledge of the nature of his own illness, will be able to fight death.

The changing and turbulent history of Hungary is seen through the eyes of three men over a 30-year period in this somber drama. The three recall the highlights of their lives in flashbacks as they reminisce in the mid 1960s. The venerable trio begin their story in the 1930s, through World War II, and the decade beyond the communist invasion of 1956.

This mocking criticism of public life and the media focuses on a TV series. The protagonist of the film, depicting the battles fought for Hungarian castles during the Ottoman occupation, is chosen to be the amateur Prohászka Feri, a worker in the beer-factory.

The top management of the co-operative in the rural community at Lake Balaton goes on coaches everywhere to irritate Mrs. Peczöli, the snobbish wife of the only individual farmer. Peczöli would readily join the co-operative, should it not oppose his apple improving experiments.

Those who don't work have to think very hard to make ends meet. Can one be called an artist of life who sells the Blood Field to Bulgarian gardeners in post-war Budapest? The need is great, sometimes greater than the power of the law, as long as an army of gullible people roam the streets.

A Hungarian doctor, Dr. Hajnal, who always considered himself out of politics, falls in love with the Soviet intelligence agent, the radio operator Alba, operating in the occupied Wehrmacht of Hungary. By accident, the radio operator is hiding in the doctor’s house. Hainal is drawn into a life-threatening confrontation with the Germans. A difficult question arises before him: to remain neutral when people die around and Alba is threatened with death, or to remain an honest person — to make his personal choice and take part in this struggle.

This ironic comedy is set in the god-forsaken Kiskúnbékás, at the end of the fifties. There are no jobs, the town's "golden team", who once were third class national soccer players have scattered

The story of how a demon is summoned by mistake and the lengths the couple that invoked him have to go to get rid of him without losing their souls in the bargain.

Mrs. Fazekas and her three sons live in a tenement house in the outskirts. The eldest son, Fecó, is saving money in order to buy a washing machine for his mother, while her other two sons spend time by hanging around and playing tricks.

Members of the Wild Goose patrol decide to find the little monkeys stolen from the Zoo. They try to make up for what the unruly adults messed up. They keep bumping into the disguised damned ice-cream vendor, the intriguing Bagaméri, who would like to get the reward set for the finder of the monkeys.

1932, Budapest. Gere János, an unemployed worker searching for employment in the capital, is organised into the secret police after a raid. Summary justice is declared, and the police wants to find an illegal communist press at any price. Gere, wandering about in the dark city, joins a man, helping him to carry his luggage. Slowly, Gere learns that his companion is a Communist and his task is to keep the press machine hidden from the police.

Blondie and Árpi love each other very much. She is a hairdresser, he is a confectioner. Blondie's parents are divorced and she lives with her grandmother. Árpi loves her parents, but has long been angry with her brother-in-law, whom she knows to be keeping a mistress. Pista turns the parents against Árpi, and after a quarrel, the boy decides to leave home. Then he has an even better idea: marry Blondie. She is just as much of a hebrensch, so she insists on marriage. It's summer, and the Árpi's move to their summer cottage on the top of the hill. But they are unprepared for independence, and so they have a series of conflicts. They quarrel badly, and Blondie moves back home. To Arpi's surprise, her father persuades her to make up with him. Blondie sulks at first, but her lover overcomes her resentment. They try again, together.

A female worker in Socialist Hungary gains the acceptance of her male colleagues.