The BIDF, Budapest International Documentary Festival this year is online due to the pandemic. The festival, which is organized from 2014, presents numerous documentary films, most of them are already awarded on other festivals.
The audience can watch acknowledged documentaries in the festival from 1st of March until the 7th.
During the festival, they will also be moderated conversations with the filmmakers and organized ones with experts alongside the topics.
The other part of the festival is the competition section. There are few categories like:
Empire of Love, Empire of Evil, Empire of Hope, Empire of Forgiveness, Short film competition for young filmmakers, Hungarian competition, Competition of Hungarian Films, Student Competition.
The professional jury consists of international and domestic experts, mostly documentary filmmakers, journalists, or actors. Names like Adam Papliński, Anna Zamecka, Bianca Oana, Bodnár Judit Lola and other recognized professionals.
Alongside the festival films, the “Caught In The Net” (directed by Vít Klusák, Barbora Chalupová) is maybe one of the most well-known one, his reputation reached weeks ago. This documentary is about three young actresses pretending to be under-aged and seeing what happens when signing up for a popular online chat room. An eye-opening experiment revealing how this modern form of child abuse became an extremely spread out and common threat.
But also, in the student competition films the “Dusk” (directed by Bálint Bíró) which is placed in a rural region of Hungary close to the Serbian border is more about a father and son story.
You can watch a documentary in the Empire of Evil category the “Gorbachev.Heaven” (directed by Vitaly Mansky). This film is about changes that reverberated throughout the world wrought by one man. A film summing-up the life of a man who changed the world in the 20th century.
Someone who is sensitive for social issues, could be interested in “A married couple” (directed by Emil Langballe) also competing in the Empire of Love category. This film is about a couple with Down’s syndrome, and they relate to the world and to each other with complete honesty and no filter, often looking at things from a surprisingly poetic and unusual viewpoint and with a philosophical take on life.
“The Little Girl” (directed by Sébastian Lifshitz) documentary is about 7-year-old Sasha. She has always known she was a little girl, even though she was born a boy. As society fails to treat her like the other children her age – in her daily life at school, dance lessons or birthday parties – her supportive family leads a constant battle to make her difference understood and accepted.
Budapest International Documentary Festival is the only international documentary festival in the capital of Hungary that is a competition festival for the best documentaries from all over the world, without thematic or any other restrictions; hosts the creators of every film and covers all their costs; holds a Q&A session after every screening to provide a real one-off experience; groups the selected films into thematic sections; has an international jury of 5 professionals in every section; gives 5-6 awards with prize money along with other rewards and special mentions; is also a year-long project with screenings every month.
Each of the tickets will be valid during the whole festival.
Edith Károly-Rajki
Sources: bidf.hu, Facebook
