Dezső Garas

A collective film made by ten prominent Hungarian filmmakers to express what each of them wishes to bring with them of their own culture and personal experience with Hungary's accession to the European Union.

Iván is living in exile from Hungary when he receives word that an old flame is ill. His return to Budapest rekindles old memories and reopens old wounds.

The story setup in the late Communist era. Two school boys are best friends. One's Father is a mighty communist party secretary, the other is an anti-communist rebel.

This epic story takes place between 1820 and 1860 during the Habsburg Monarchy, and portrays the life one of the greatest Hungarian aristocrats - Count Széchenyi - who was born with extra-ordinary mental and spiritual talents. In the years following the fall of Napoleon the young count Széchenyi irresponsibly seduces his brother's wife, and the consequent scandal ruins his career as an army officer. After the sudden death of his humiliated lover Count Széchenyi drastically changes his character from that of a shallow young man into a responsible nobleman seeking to conquer his fate by creating great achievements in his remaining life.

Defoe, lacking fantasy of his own takes home the drunkard sailor from the pub and lets him tell his stories on the uninhabited island.

An atmospheric, sub-hallucinogenic venture into the world of the unknown. The enigma facing a young woman is the identity of her father. Unfortunately for her, she becomes drawn into a small Romanian underworld of brooding menace, darkness, torture chambers, and vampires.

Ede (Dezso Garas) is in his sixties, and he is full of uncertainty about how he and his wife Kati (Mari Torocsik) will fare in the new post-communist regime in Hungary. At least before, he had some idea what he needed to do to get by, and even if he never made much money with his myriad schemes, they got by. Kati has got a real bug in her ear about their livelihood, and is hounding him to get into the spirit of the new system. This is troubling enough for the old gent, but when he runs into an old mistress (Kati Lazar) and discovers that he has a grown son he has never met or knew about, his life becomes even more confusing. His slimy ex big-shot brother-in-law (Istvan Avar) is a major player in the new entrepeneurial risk-taking, and he beseiges poor Ede with advice as well. In this topical comedy, all these worrisome things, and more, come to a head at a big family celebrtion.

In 1974, mountain climber Molly Higgins (Lori Singer) begins her ascent of Lenin Peak, located in the Pamir Mountains on the edge of the Himalayas. She's part of an international climbing expedition that has brought a team of U.S. climbers into the USSR. But completing their mission won't be easy, as Mother Nature and internal divisions hamper their journey up the perilous peak, putting all their lives in jeopardy. This made-for-TV movie is based on a true story.

Upon his father's death, a Hungarian stage actor travels to Israel for the funeral and meets his stepmother for the first time.

This is a story of a man who wants to grasp and hold his beloved one by him and a woman who insists on that her love can't be grasped; 'she' only can deliver hers. It has written Comedy, Romance etc... but, this movie doesn't include anything funny, I believe. After I see the movie, I thought that love springs through a one's heart and it has its own spirit. It doesn't have to have any company. The matter is if it coincides its mate; that's it.

The sisters have been living in a Soviet barracks in Hungary for eleven years. They long to go to Moscow, but they are drawn here by habituation and inertia. Their father, the brigade commander, is dead, yet they are unable to act and prefer to remain in the closed world of the barracks. So the plot is the same, only the setting has changed.

No synopsis available yet.

The story of 10-year-old boy and his family against the backdrop of the bloody events of 1956, in Budapest. Children do not yet understand what is going on, but they're happy because the schools are closed. But gradually, to adults and children comes the understanding that something terrible is happening. Disappearing relatives, friends, and even killed some. Tips sent an army to put down the counterrevolutionary rebellion.

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

This quirky episodic comedy weaves together three plotlines centered around the employees of a car garage, with some unexpected fairytale elements to get things moving. A woodland fairy convinces shy bookkeeper Piel to suddenly start driving his Trabi far above the speed limit. Manager Neumann sells his soul to a black cat in order to purchase a more respectable vehicle. And a spirit named "Car Accident" offers to warn owner Sengebusch about upcoming traffic accidents so he can make money by always being the first on the scene.

The actress is always lonely, she has nobody to love. She adopts a young boy from the orphanage, who formerly arrived on Earth by a flying suitcase and a policeman took him to the orphanage. The actress would be willing to adopt him, but there is no hope for this at the beginning.

No synopsis available yet.

A typist girl who is under the influence of nervous breakdown walks out to the street stark naked from the office she works in. A young physician goes by accidentally and tries to help her, spreading his coat over her nude body. From this moment his life changes completely.

Janos Flandera (Frigyes Funtek) is a student who is kept by an older woman in this depressing drama. When he applies to a prestigious school in Moscow, he is turned down because he is a gigolo. Not only is his scholarship request denied, he is sentenced to a year in prison at hard labor. Janos abandons the jealous older woman who helped deny his entrance to the school. Punished after defending a political prisoner, Janos takes solace in love affairs, but his union with the crippled daughter of a prominent political official puts his life in danger.

"Ripacsok" is a great movie with great soundtrack, acting, cinematography, direction, etc. The world of "artists", hamming actors, good clowns and bad clowns... A unique movie in many ways. Pál Sándor is a very good hungarian director, watch his movies (especially the slightly better "Régi idõk focija") if you have the chance.

In the streets of Vichy, France, during World War II, the Germans apprehend nine men and a boy. Among them are a painter, a businessman, an electrician, a waiter, an army doctor, an actor, a prince, a gypsy, and a Jew. Confined without explanation, they can only speculate about their fate.

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.

Péter tries to make a film on "Swan-Lake". At the weekend, shooting stops and the staff goes home. Péter leaves for home with his wife, Judit, but as he catches sight of a girl at the station, he cannot resist the temptation and gets off the train.

No synopsis available yet.

A Jewish ghetto in the east of Europe, 1944. By coincidence, Jakob Heym eavesdrops on a German radio broadcast announcing the Soviet Army is making slow by steady progress towards central Europe. In order to keep his companion in misfortune, Mischa, from risking his life for a few potatoes, he tells him what he heard and announces that he is in possession of a radio - in the ghetto a crime punishable by death. It doesn't take long for word of Jakob's secret to spread - suddenly, there is new hope and something to live for - and so Jakob finds himself in the uncomforting position of having to come up with more and more stories.

This light comedy with grotesque elements tells the story of M, the young and beautiful model mother, who seeks happiness and a father for her precocious, but inventive daughter, Tündike.

News spreads like wildfire through the streets of Lubló: the ghost of recently deceased Mihály Kaszperek has been seen emerging now and then around the town. He pays off his debts, seeks out his debtors, flirts with his widow, then before sunrise he gallops off seated back to front on his steed. However, it soon transpires that the gold he is using is fake. Naturally, a counterfeiting phantom quickly attracts the attention of the authorities as well. Detective Jakab Strang is given the task of arresting the wayward dearly departed.

No synopsis available yet.

A murder has been committed in a block of flats in Pest. Almost all the dwellers of the building behave in a suspicious way at the beginning of the investigation, although it is their everyday lapses they try to hide. In spite of the janitor's unpleasant comments, light is gradually thrown upon the case.

Winter of 1944, the last days of the war. When the roads and houses ceased to exist and the bottom of the cellars become filled with life, when fortunes were lost and countries burned up, her used coat was only important to Mama, the cloak-room servant of a local dance-school. Her son stole it to sell it for twenty pengő. He did it because Aranka Fussbaum's love cost money. There is no honour left in such a destroyed world. Yet still they start looking for that coat... (Elemér Ragályi won Best camera with this movie in Montreal, 1979, and in Budapest, 1980.)

This sour satire records how narrow-minded, perishable and prejudiced human relations are. Lili, an open, good-hearted, but clumsy girl gets a rusty Renault Gordini from her uncle living in France. She wants to learn driving, but makes horrible and perilous mistakes behind the wheel.

A flamboyant comedy about love, work and money—revealing that the "planned" economy produced some unconventional entrepreneurial methods.

The film is set in Budapest, 1924. Laundryman Ede Minarik's only passion is football. His dream is to see his team, Csabagyöngye, qualify for the first division. For this goal he would be willing to sacrifice everything he has. But he has nothing, even footballers just barely. The team is just like the times. But still, "we need a team!"

Director Sandor Simo based this film on his recollections of a period in his father's life just after World War II. In the film, Janos Torok is a chemist and an entrepreneur With enormous enthusiasm, he gets loans to purchase a small chemical plant and begins experiments to create innovative products, such as hormones. Meanwhile, the communist party has come to dominate Hungarian life in such a way that his activities are viewed as little more than criminal. He is hauled away to a prison camp, but even then his letters home are full of boundless optimism and his ideas for further experiments.

The grotesque comedy with crime elements takes place in a grocery store.

Three people skilfully kidnap the company director, who never takes the responsibility, takes sleeping pills and spends his time feeding ornamental fish. The kidnappers turn out to be no other than the Engineer, the Technician and the Worker, who only wanted to avoid bankruptcy this way.

No synopsis available yet.

The protagonist of this farce is the enthusiastic, bald, spectacled Krebsz, an employee at the Prime and Sample Institute. He alerts the whole village to organise a beauty contest in the weed-field of Balatonszutykos. Hoping to win the grand prize, the leading role in a two-hour colour-film, the girls make all efforts and use all their tricks.

On the crowded train, the workers entertain each other by telling stories.

To celebrate Hitler's birthday, a soccer match is organised between the Germans and a group of Hungarian political prisoners, one of whom is a famous pre-war football star.

Mocorgó, the well-meaning worker boy, is a tough guy. In his 40s he is still a mechanic's apprentice, but he is disappointed by his family, women and friends, and becomes a criminal. He goes to prison several times and tells the story of his life to the writer, who follows his story until 1956, until Mocorgó's death.

The protagonists of a comic Romeo and Juliet story full of gags are two widowed pensioners. Nádor and Mrs. Komáromi meet in the cemetery while mourning their dead spouses and they fall in love.

13 March 1965 (Hungary)

Seven stories about love and women.

Eve, the old professor zsongják beautiful wife surrounded by colleagues. When the professor's going away for a conference abroad, intensifying the suitors attempts. Eve, however faithful to her husband, so that the denials are increasing. Oddly enough, the rejected accidents ...

"Good evening... I'd like to report a murder... Where do I live? In the basement... but I'm not there now... I'm on the top floor, in the boss's room... Ah, I don't know who the body is... You like to know, I'm the cleaning lady... How can I check if he's just taking a nap? Maybe, but he's got a dagger sticking out of his back the size of half my arm... So I lock all the doors... don't touch anything... keep my mouth shut and don't tell anyone until you arrive..." - Mrs. Piper, the cleaning lady, begins the eerily cheerful, twisty story with her broken sentences, but at the end we are left with no answer as to why Mrs. Pipper talks so much.

Félix, a somewhat clod-hopping young man, finds himself in the Grand Hotel of Little Lagonda, barefooted and in pyjamas. He is soon followed by a hooded, fat and leggy gangster. This is all the more strange as the hotel is under quarantine with the pretext of a plague-epidemic, in order to make it a suitable ground for the negotiations of certain oil-companies.

Small town girl Eszter adores her husband, Zoltán. He doesn't know Zoltán is having an affair with Alizka, until the woman moves in to their apartment.

A comedy about the dwellers of a newly handed-over building. The sullen doctor Birkás is concerned that his wife also has a job so there is nobody to keep the apartment tidy. What is more, it happens that the doctor must cook the dumplings stuffed with plums himself. The lady hairdresser, Albert, is rather jealous of his wife. His jealousy is not entirely ungrounded, and Mancika runs away with a motorcyclist. The Korbusz family live a little crowded, because in addition to Öcsi, even an energetic grandmother lives with them. But the peacefully troublesome time spent together does not disturb the family's happiness.

Captain Kovács investigates the case of a taxi driver who was knocked down and later he disappeared without leaving a trace. Responding the call of the police six women present themselves: they all confess to be the fiancée of the driver.

Andris is almost an adolescent boy. He would need the trust and encouragement of his family. But his father is too much preoccupied with his moral problems in his job. He has the choice either to make a fuss about the corruption discovered at the company or he tries to cover it up skilfully.

20-year-old Gida, having just survived his first amourous disappointment, falls for Katinka, the young widow, at first sight.

Panni, coming from a landless family of ten and Miska have loved each other for a long time. The pretty Panni, however, has another suitor as well: Komáromi, the big farmer. The two men fight from time to time, but then, during the time Miska is serving his military duty, Panni marries Komáromi to end the tremendous squalor of her family.

The flat of Doctor Bartha is wetting, the Communal Management Enterprise does not act, the doctor and his wife are at the edge of divorce. Géza would marry his colleague, Kató, but mum is sick, the apartment is small, no money. Uncle Károly is fed up with unsuitable, charlatan business managers. Vali would marry, in order not to live on Titi and Piri any more, but the selected man wants to have a woman with her own apartment. All of them have a chance by the lottery, especially by hitting twelve scores.

Cabinet crisis threatens in Futbólia, due to a series of lost matches. The head of state charges admiral Duca with the task, as a last chance, to get hold of the football star of the Hungarian team presently playing in Switzerland.

If there has ever been pure and undestroyable love, this is it. That is how Imre and Vera feel. The talented chemist loses his best friend for the girl's sake, then gives up his profession, only to be able to stay in the capital with Vera. But the young actress at the beginning of her career is neglected. Imre accepts an uninteresting, but well-paying position. They seem to be happy together.

In Gerolstein, those girls who were born the same year as the princess, cannot marry until she remains maiden. An attractive and very rich husband is needed for Antónia in order to fill the treasures up. The wonderful reigning princess meets her selected bridegroom, the emperor of the neighbouring Pecunia in disguise and by accident.

Set in the "Golden Era" of the wandering Hungarian theatre troupes. Mariska and Liliomfi fall in love without suspecting that Mariska's foster father, Professor Szilvay, is also Liliomfi's uncle. Soon the couple must contend with the professor's plan to make Liliomfi give up his "unrespectable" profession of acting by exposing the professor's hypocrisy, greed, and tyrannical selfishness.

Kölyök, this lovely, ham-handed young woman, has caused many a trouble already in the Dunaújváros Iron Works. Fortunately, however, the manager does not want to give her up, what is more, Kölyök found a second father even at the police.

1946. Borok Vince, party secretary, and Holló Döme, former landowner, arrive in Nagybökény the same day at Easter. The latter wants to get back his castle and land with the help of his attorney. Albert József, the police-chief, wants to strengthen Communist power with tough actions. His R-guards disperse the clerical torch march.