Hungary’s film industry has been enjoying a renaissance of late, earning immense international recognition and picking up two Oscars along the way. Between February 8th and 11th you can see what all the fuss is about, as many major films and documentaries made over the past few years will be screening at the Corvin Cinema.
Aurora Borealis by eminent Hungarian director Márta Mészáros tells a touching tale across two timelines, drawing in the audience as it does so. Back in 1953, Mari, a village girl, has fallen for the descendant of an aristocratic family, Ákos, and the pair decides to flee to Austria together – but their escape fails. After being harassed by soldiers, Mari has to start a new life alone and pregnant in occupied Vienna. The other storyline is in the present, the events unfolding through the recollections of old Mari, now a pensioner living in her former village. When one day she gets a letter from Russia and falls into a coma, her daughter, Olga, comes back to care for her. Suspecting something about her mother’s past isn’t quite right, she starts investigating and finds out shocking secrets about their lives.
The film screens at 4:30pm on Friday. Be sure to take some Kleenex.
1945 is a mournful drama shot in black-and-white. As the official description put it at the Berlinale, in this film “a Hungarian village becomes a mirror for the failure of an entire society”. In 1945, the life of simple Hungarian villagers gets stirred up when two Orthodox Jews unexpectedly arrive at the train station with mysterious boxes. The townspeople are getting ready for the wedding of the notary’s son, but when the mysterious men arrive, tricky questions arise. Guilt about their ill-gotten gains – and fear of losing them – overwhelm the villagers who moved into the abandoned properties of Jews deported during World War II. Over the course of a single day, everything changes… The film screens at 2:30pm on Friday.
A Viszkis tells the strange but true story of Attila Ambrus, Hungary’s Whiskey Robber, who became (in)famous for committing 30 robberies around Budapest in the ’90s, each after knocking back a glass – or two – of whisky. Ambrus played cat-and-mouse with the authorities for six years, once fleeing a crime scene by diving into the Danube and even escaping from prison, becoming a folk hero in the process. The film has been a huge success in Hungary, edge-of-the-seat entertainment with jaw-dropping action scenes and off-the-wall humor – especially amusing and noteworthy for a Hungarian film. To learn more about the Whiskey Robber’s incredible story before watching the film, read our interview with him.
A Viszkis screens at 7:10pm on Saturday.
Bizarre, disturbing, comforting and intimate – On Body and Soul by eminent Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s has been a huge success. This Oscar nominee f0r Best Foreign-Language Film in 2018 will also be the first Hungarian feature to be released on Netflix. On Body and Soul is the encounter of extraordinary yet typical souls, telling a peculiar love story set in a slaughterhouse. Endre and Mária discover that they share the same intimate dream every night, in which they get closer to each other as deer. However, in real life, the pair communicates rather awkwardly and have a hard time finding the way to each other’s heart.
The film screens at 6:20pm on Sunday.
Many other fine films will be screened with English subtitles, such as Budapest Noir, L.U.F.I, Átalakítás folyamatban, The Citizen, Fényévek, Jupiter’s Moon, Granny Project, Hetedik Alabárdos, Álom hava, Árulók, Asszó, Légmell and A legvidámabb barakk. Click here for the full program.
