Zoltán Fábri

Directing

Zoltán Fábri

Born 1917-10-16 · Budapest, Hungary

Zoltán Fábri (born Zoltán Furtkovics; 15 October 1917 – 23 August 1994) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. After graduating from the Hungarian College of Fine Arts, Fábri began in the local film industry as a production designer, and directed his first film in 1951. His third feature, Merry Go Round (1956), brought him international acclaim. Fábri's style can be described mainly as 'classical', utilising academic techniques of art filmmaking. His greatest influences were Italian Neorealism and French Poetic Realism, he experimented with narrative and flashback technique in the 1960s–particularly with Darkness in Daytime (1963) and Twenty Hours (1965)–and The Fifth Seal (1976), the latter containing some highly surrealist scenes.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Twenty Hours poster
6.2

In 1956, a crusading newspaper reporter covers the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Initially critical of the communists, the feature later espouses the virtues of social changes implemented since the invasion.

Twenty Hours

1965

The Housewarming poster
8.2

The elite of political and business life of the country town gather to celebrate the namesday of Haudek László in the luxury villa. Everything begins just as usual, but now an incident disturbs the stag party.

The Housewarming

1983

The Housewarming poster
8.2

The elite of political and business life of the country town gather to celebrate the namesday of Haudek László in the luxury villa. Everything begins just as usual, but now an incident disturbs the stag party.

The Housewarming

1983

Darkness in Daytime poster
10.0

In 1963 in Tihany, somebody addresses the writer Gábor Náday. He is reminded of a night drive in 1944 that saved his life. Painful memories start coming to Náday.

Darkness in Daytime

1963

Darkness in Daytime poster
10.0

In 1963 in Tihany, somebody addresses the writer Gábor Náday. He is reminded of a night drive in 1944 that saved his life. Painful memories start coming to Náday.

Darkness in Daytime

1963

Ants' Nest poster
6.8

The head of the nunnery is dying, and the members are divided in two groups as the election of the new head approaches. Led by Virginia, the younger nuns stand up for changing the strict religious dogmas and would like a modern school with genuine science, a bathroom to be built, and a freer spirit. Their candidate is sister Magdolna, who went to secular universities, too. The seminarists, led by Király Erzsi, also rebel against the older nuns' strict discipline and the depressed atmosphere of the institution. However, Magdolna does not want to stay involved in the fight because she is deterred by Virginia's sinful attraction towards her and the tools Virginia is using to gain victory at any price.

Ants' Nest

1971

Ants' Nest poster
6.8

The head of the nunnery is dying, and the members are divided in two groups as the election of the new head approaches. Led by Virginia, the younger nuns stand up for changing the strict religious dogmas and would like a modern school with genuine science, a bathroom to be built, and a freer spirit. Their candidate is sister Magdolna, who went to secular universities, too. The seminarists, led by Király Erzsi, also rebel against the older nuns' strict discipline and the depressed atmosphere of the institution. However, Magdolna does not want to stay involved in the fight because she is deterred by Virginia's sinful attraction towards her and the tools Virginia is using to gain victory at any price.

Ants' Nest

1971

Bálint Fábián Meets God poster
7.5

In 1918, Fábián Bálint is forced to kill on the Italian front. At home, his sons drown the priest, the lover of their mother, in the river Kraszna, an action that drives her insane. Following his return home, Bálint becomes the liveried coachman of the baron.

Bálint Fábián Meets God

1980

Bálint Fábián Meets God poster
7.5

In 1918, Fábián Bálint is forced to kill on the Italian front. At home, his sons drown the priest, the lover of their mother, in the river Kraszna, an action that drives her insane. Following his return home, Bálint becomes the liveried coachman of the baron.

Bálint Fábián Meets God

1980

The Storm poster
9.0

Vörös Hajnal (Red Dawn), a co-operative is the venue of skylarking, while the storm destroys the wheat which is to be harvested soon. Árendás, a middle-peasant, voices severe accusations against members of the co-operative: out of negligence, they failed to keep the ditches clean. It is always the soft option they seem to favour, while the necessity of properly taking care of the farmlands is long-forgotten. Members of the co-operative and the village people are deeply divided.

The Storm

1952

141 Minutes from the Unfinished Sentence poster
5.5

In 1930s Hungary, budding aristocrat Lőrinc Parcen Nagy undergoes a moral awakening. He abandons his privileged life to join the socialist underground, facing the harsh realities of class struggle and the approach of WWII.

141 Minutes from the Unfinished Sentence

1975

The Fifth Seal poster
8.0

In 1944 Budapest, a watchmaker, a book seller and a carpenter are drinking in a bar with the owner, when they are joined by a stranger. The watchmaker poses a hypothetical that will change their lives forever.

The Fifth Seal

1976

The Fifth Seal poster
8.0

In 1944 Budapest, a watchmaker, a book seller and a carpenter are drinking in a bar with the owner, when they are joined by a stranger. The watchmaker poses a hypothetical that will change their lives forever.

The Fifth Seal

1976

Merry-Go-Round poster
7.5

In a rural scenery in the throes of difficult changes lives humble but promising young farmer girl 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 his older business partner. 'Land marries land', he says, a phrase which seems to be the unyielding rule of the Hungarian peasantry. But the younger lover is ready to confront any challenge to keep Mari's love.

Merry-Go-Round

1956

Merry-Go-Round poster
7.5

In a rural scenery in the throes of difficult changes lives humble but promising young farmer girl 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 his older business partner. 'Land marries land', he says, a phrase which seems to be the unyielding rule of the Hungarian peasantry. But the younger lover is ready to confront any challenge to keep Mari's love.

Merry-Go-Round

1956

Late Season poster
8.8

Against the backdrop of the Adolph Eichmann trials, an elderly paraplegic pharmacist is summoned to the police station, where he believes that his hidden wartime guilt has caught up with him, unaware that it is all in fact an elaborate practical joke.

Late Season

1967

Summer Clouds poster
8.0

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

Summer Clouds

1957

The Brute poster
6.4

Ulveczky, unbridled bull of the village, is incapable of living in the small community like others. He runs his farm and lives life as a tyrant. His licentious temperament leads him to take whatever he wants, women included, who are swept off their feet. His victims include a beautiful young girl who nearly dies when he tires of and ejects her. With great difficulty, she restarts her life, hoping that she has finally freed herself of the brute who, however, doesn't let go quite so easily.

The Brute

1961

The Brute poster
6.4

Ulveczky, unbridled bull of the village, is incapable of living in the small community like others. He runs his farm and lives life as a tyrant. His licentious temperament leads him to take whatever he wants, women included, who are swept off their feet. His victims include a beautiful young girl who nearly dies when he tires of and ejects her. With great difficulty, she restarts her life, hoping that she has finally freed herself of the brute who, however, doesn't let go quite so easily.

The Brute

1961

Professor Hannibal poster
5.2

When a Latin teacher publishes an essay on the Carthaginian General Hannibal, he is quickly hailed as a celebrity genius, but in reality has become an unwitting pawn of far-right politicians.

Professor Hannibal

1956

Professor Hannibal poster
5.2

When a Latin teacher publishes an essay on the Carthaginian General Hannibal, he is quickly hailed as a celebrity genius, but in reality has become an unwitting pawn of far-right politicians.

Professor Hannibal

1956

Requiem poster
4.9

A woman learns that one of her doctor husband's patients used to be the cellmate of her first husband, who died in prison years before.

Requiem

1982

Requiem poster
4.9

A woman learns that one of her doctor husband's patients used to be the cellmate of her first husband, who died in prison years before.

Requiem

1982

The Boys of Paul Street poster
7.7

In turn-of-the-century Budapest, teenage gangs the Paul Street Boys and the Red Shirts have been skirmishing over a vacant lot. When the Red Shirts decide to drive the Paul Street Boys out, they appoint small, sickly Nemescek to spy on their opponents.

The Boys of Paul Street

1969