The Hungarian Cinema Festival will be held between 23-26 June 2021, jointly organized by the National Film Institute and the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 – European Capital of Culture program. The new celebration of Hungarian films will feature 84 Hungarian films in five categories and eight locations in three cities – Veszprém, Balatonfüred and Balatonalmádi.
Open-air screenings, film premieres, international festival award winners, stars, audience meetings, children and youth programs, restored classics, exhibitions, concerts and gastronomic programs await you. The Hungarian Moving Image Festival commemorates Mari Törőcsik, who passed away this year. The festival is free but registration is required. The Hungarian Film Academy will present the Hungarian Film Awards on June 26th.
On June 23rd, the new Hungarian Film Festival, the Hungarian Cinema Festival, will start with the gala premiere of “So or Perfect” (“Így vagy tökéletes”) in Veszprém. The romantic comedy by Péter Varsics will feature great actors such as Ernő Fekete, Márta Béres, Nóra Trokán, Tamás Lengyel, Szabolcs Thuróczy and Géza D. Hegedűs, among others.
“Hungarian film is 120 years old this year! It is a great pleasure to launch this new event in the year of the jubilee, which will be a celebration worthy of the cultural prestige of Hungarian film for the audience and the profession alike. We will continue the tradition of previous film and TV screenings, with the innovation of celebrating all genres in one festival, with an exciting selection of films and premieres.
I sincerely thank the Hungarian filmmakers for being enthusiastic partners in the preparation of this new event and for entering over 100 new films, so that the Festival can showcase the best of recent Hungarian filmmaking.” – said Csaba Káel, Government Commissioner for the Development of the Hungarian Film Industry.
Dr. Tibor Navracsics, Government Commissioner is responsible for the implementation of the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 – EKF program, said “Our long-term goal is to become Europe’s new cultural-creative industry region, and we see film as one of the most dynamically developing areas of this sector, so we have no secret that we want to become a meeting place for the industry.”
The Hungarian Cinema Festival will commemorate Mari Törőcsik, who passed away this year, so one of the highlights of the festival will be the screening of Gyula Maár’s 1975 film “Déryné, Where Is She?”, in which Mari Törőcsik plays Déryné. Program Director Péter Muszatics announced that the festival will screen 15 feature films, including 4 premieres, 5 TV films, 16 documentaries, including 2 premieres, 17 animated films, 26 short feature films and 5 cinema films.
He stressed that one of the best Hungarian films, “Szindbád”, is 50 years old, and its creators, director Zoltán Huszárik and the main character Zoltán Latinovits, were born 90 years ago. The festival will pay tribute to the classic with a screening of the restored print, a film introduction and a post-film background discussion for students, a round table discussion on Latinovits and special gastronomic programs.
He added that when designing the program of the Hungarian Film Festival, he placed particular emphasis on enriching it with film schedules and a wide range of complementary events.
Participation in the festival is free but registration is required and can be done on the website from June 9th. The Hungarian Film Academy will present the Hungarian Cinema Awards on June 26th.
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