After Annecy, Hungarian Animated Short Bonefuzz Heads to Sarajevo

MOME graduate Márk László’s gothic coming-of-age short will compete at the Sarajevo Film Festival after its selection at Annecy.

Fresh from its appearance in the graduation-film competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Bonefuzz is heading to another major international showcase. Márk László’s MOME graduation film has been selected for the competition program of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The literary-inspired animated short follows a hearing-impaired teenager into a mysterious gothic concert, using his shifting relationship with sound to tell a story about isolation, initiation and finding one’s own voice.

Márk László, director of the animated short Bonefuzz — Márk László, director of *Bonefuzz*. Photo courtesy of MOME.

A gothic coming-of-age story shaped by sound

Supported by Hungary’s National Film Institute, Bonefuzz centers on Vajk, a hearing-impaired teenager who can regulate his connection to the outside world by adjusting the volume of his hearing aid. His brother pulls him out of his solitude and takes him with friends to a ruined industrial building on the edge of a forest, where a mysterious band is performing.

The tension created by Vajk’s disadvantage, together with the unfamiliar intensity of the experience, develops into a coming-of-age journey in which he discovers his own voice.

A gothic warehouse concert scene from the animated short Bonefuzz — The mysterious concert at the center of *Bonefuzz*. Image courtesy of MOME.

The film combines detailed 3D backgrounds with 2D character animation. László also composed its music, continuing a creative interest that has shaped his work since childhood: the relationship between sound and animation.

“I could not imagine life without listening to and creating music,” László said. “With this film, I wanted to convey how powerfully sound can affect human consciousness.”

The short was inspired by Attila Veres’s story Ködváros, in which a hearing-impaired boy experiences a performance by a mysterious rock band.

Characters travelling by car in the Hungarian animated short Bonefuzz — A scene from *Bonefuzz*. Image courtesy of MOME.

From Annecy to Sarajevo

More than three decades old, the Sarajevo Film Festival is one of Southeast Europe’s leading film events and an Oscar-qualifying festival in selected categories. Its competition lineup spans feature films, documentaries, shorts and student films, while its professional programs help emerging filmmakers build international careers.

The festival has become a key meeting point for filmmakers from Southeast, Central and Eastern Europe, screening more than 200 films annually in recent editions.

A night road scene from the Hungarian animated short Bonefuzz — A scene from *Bonefuzz*. Image courtesy of MOME.

The Sarajevo selection extends a notable run for MOME Anim: over the past decade, the school’s graduation films have appeared in the competition programs of major international festivals every year.

Inside the making of Bonefuzz

In MOME’s behind-the-scenes film, László discusses the creation of Bonefuzz, its literary roots and the production choices behind its distinctive world.

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design campus in Budapest — Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. Photo courtesy of MOME.

The film was produced by Zsuzsanna Vincze for MOME Anim, with Réka Anna Szakály as line producer and Anna Tőkés and Bálint Gelley of CUB Animation as production managers. Béla Balázs Award-winning editor Judit Czakó edited the short, while Tamás Beke and Péter Benjámin Lukács created its sound design.

More information about MOME’s English-language Animation MA is available on the university’s website.