Gábor Máté

The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.

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.

Three stories. Three ages. Three men. Grandfather, father, son. One is an orderly, one is a leading sportsman, and one is a master taxidermist. One desires love, the other success, and the third immortality.

In the week of the book an interview is made with the writer Péter Simon, whose first book of short stories appeared in the prime of his life.

TV-adaptation of the two short stories from hungarian writer Ferenc Karinthy.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

A feature length, lively - montage style - documentary, capturing the essence of what life was like in socialist Hungary - dubbed the "The most cheerful barrack" back then - using contemporary music, interviews, adverts and news footages.

Via the New York Times: "The Hungarian director Gyula Gazdag has transposed the middle section of Balzac's "Lost Illusions" from Paris in the mid-19th century to the Budapest of 1968... it tells of Laszlo Sardi - Balzac's Lucien Chardon - and his efforts to launch his literary career amid the snobbery and sophistication of a big city."

A Hungarian youth comes of age at Buchenwald during World War II. György Köves is 14, the son of a merchant who's sent to a forced labor camp. After his father's departure, György gets a job at a brickyard; his bus is stopped and its Jewish occupants sent to camps. There, György find camaraderie, suffering, cruelty, illness, and death. He hears advice on preserving one's dignity and self-esteem. He discovers hatred. If he does survive and returns to Budapest, what will he find? What is natural; what is it to be a Jew? Sepia, black and white, and color alternate to shade the mood.

A group of seven friends of different ages and interests meet regularly at Eva's. They have coffee, talk and listen to music. At one of the gatherings, Eva finds a secret agent's badge, "Lookout 123", in the hallway. The accidentally dropped ID card can only belong to one of the members of the party. From that moment on, the film is a continuous chain of private investigations, suspicions, betrayals, deceptions, the fabrication of hypotheses, the chess game of thinking through all the motives that are supposed to be relevant.

No synopsis available yet.

The viper. The word alone fills most people with dread. It calls to mind some kind of huge, writhing monster, lying in wait to bite. The Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis) however, is not large and doesn’t attack. It is rather small and it would rather flee. It’s venom is deadly only to grasshoppers and crickets. It almost disappeared because it’s habitats were plowed under and drained. It’s not easy being legless in a world ruled by four-wheeled machines and two-legged creatures. The survivors retreated to the sand dunes of Kiskunság National Park. This is where our story’s protagonist, 2K366/08, entered the world. This is her story.

The general practitioner Balla and his wife abandoning her higher education begin their common life in the small mountain village in the hope of quick enrichment and return to the capital. Despite Éva and Emma, the two school mistresses longing for love and Demeter, the dove-keeper obsessed with a desire for flight life is boring in the country.

As a free adaptation of Voltaire's classic, our Candide tries to win the beloved Cunégonde's heart in different contemporary settings. In the 13 episodes he finds himself in challanging situations, and has to face the cruelty of the world. He follows Master Pangloss's instructions to always stay optimistic, while travelling the world from a Californian start up company through North-Optimistan into deep space. As the novel itself our adaptation is a political and religious satire of our times.

Eva Kerezkes is a young woman who lives alone in her apartment. After her parents' death, she was adopted by writer Tibor and his wife, Klara. Upon returning from a holiday in Italy, Eva performs various tasks around her apartment that reveal haunting information about her past sexual relationship with Tibor.

Collection of short films the summaries of which include; a foreign man moving to Italy, getting married and having a child; a four split scene short involving plot-less images of old people with television sets for heads, a beautiful woman having sex, and overall confusion; and an old man reminiscing over his youth.

No synopsis available yet.

In 1960s Hungary, an introverted teenager’s life is turned upside down by a few days in the company of his coat hanger salesman uncle: a roguish charmer with a zest for life and a weakness for horse racing and women.

A tale of twin girls, Dóra and Lili, who are born in 1880 Budapest at the same moment Thomas Edison presents his electric lightbulb to the world. The sisters are soon orphaned and separated in childhood, and follow different paths: one grows up to be a naïvely idealistic, bomb-toting anarchist, the other a pampered, hedonistic courtesan. Their paths cross once again on the Orient Express on New Year's Eve 1899...

No synopsis available yet.

Marguerite Gautier, a beautiful Parisian courtesan turned courtesan, falls in love with the son of a country nobleman of modest means. This ardent love makes her give up her former lifestyle and move to the country with the boy. Despite their financial problems, their blissful happiness is interrupted by the appearance of the father, who asks Marguerite to break off her love affair for the sake of the boy. She then returns to Paris and resumes her self-destructive lifestyle, which has a fatal effect on her health. Her lover's heartache only increases when the truth is revealed: she has sacrificed her happiness for his career.

Middle-aged writer (Kornél Esti) travels to Germany to deliver a lecture. During the long journey he recalls the memories of an other journey he made thirty years ago.

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.