Ádám Tősér, who directed Hungary’s Oscar nominee movie “Blockade”, got into a physical altercation with a HFPA voter Géza Csákvári at the Hungarian Motion Picture Festival last week.
Csákvári was present at the festival as an invited guest, acting as Népszava’s correspondent. The journalist was on the way to visit the restroom when Tősér spotted him and proceeded to push him, causing Csákvári to hit the ground, hurled insults his way, and threatened to “smash his face in”.
Tősér was dragged away from the scene by two other film directors attending the festival.
According to an article by Népszava, Csákvári argued that even though he was critical of “Blockade”, especially its portrayal of the late President of Hungary Árpád Göncz, violence could never be the answer to such criticism.
“Blockade” was nominated for awards in more than a dozen categories at this year’s Motion Picture Festival, and ended up winning in six categories, including “Film of the Year”.
According to the article, Népszava has decided to file an official report about the incident.
In an interview by news outlet Index, Tősér commented the incident, saying that, “I asked him why he was lying and then I pushed him away, and he fell down in a ‘Neymar award-winning’ performance.”
According to him, Csákvári is an “extremist propagandist” who “accused the film and all the creators of the Blockade of one of the most serious crimes, open anti-Semitism”.
Regardless, he added that he should not have pushed Csákvári, noting that he will accept the consequences of his actions in the case legal action is taken against him. He also called the journalist to apologize for the incident.
