Country Gees

In Budapest the history of cinema begins early: the first film screenings begin in 1896 and in the first two decades of the twentieth century. there is a particularly intense production, capable of making over 100 films a year. Among the pioneers of Hungarian cinema, in the 1910s, S. Korda (the future producer Alexander) and M. Kertész (the future director Michael Curtiz) at the head of the first producers and, during the Republic of Councils (1919), you participate in the organization of an industry which, four months ahead of the USSR, was the first in the world to be nationalized for a short time. In the 1920s, the greatest talents emigrated (including P. Fejös who established himself in the USA and returned in 1932 to Maria Hungarian legend), only theorists such as B. Balázs and experimentalists such as L. Homoki-Nagy came to light. With sound and speech there was a quantitative recovery, centered on the Hunnia studio which also attracted foreign filmmakers, but with an increasingly controlled and emblematically evasive national production, in which nevertheless an excellent actor emerged: G. Kabos (1888-1941). The only pre-liberation film of certain quality was Men of the Mountain (1942) by I. Szöts, while in the postwar period the repatriated Balázs offered the text of It Happened in Europe (1947) by G. Radványi. The beginning of the newly nationalized cinema was the excellent A Palm of Earth (1948) by F. Bán, then the dominant tendency towards socialist realism was corrected by costumed comedies, such as Matteo the geese guardian (1949), the first color film, and Liliomfi (1954), from the scientific documentary series of I. Homoki-Nagy, including The Life of the Great Ponds, and from the personal contributions of directors such as Z. Fábri (Carosello, 1955; Professor Annibale, 1956), F. Máriássy (A glass of beer, 1955), influenced by Neorealism Italian, I. Fehér (Free release, 1957), K. Makk (The house at the foot of the rocks, 1958). The latter in 1961, with Gli obsessi, gave the first sign of the renewal announced also by Cantata (1962) by M. Jancsó, Dialogo (1963) by J. Herskó and Venti ore (1964) by Fábri. Through the dominant personalities of Jancsó (My journey, 1964; The desperate people of Sándor, 1965; The army on horseback, 1966; Silence and scream, 1967; Bright winds, 1968) and A. Kovács (The intractable ones, 1964; Cold days, 1966; The walls, 1968), and through the young directors trained by Studio B. Balázs such as I. Gaál (Green years, 1965; Baptism, 1968), I. Szabó (The age of illusions, 1964; Father, 1966) and the operator, documentary maker and director S. Sára (La pietra scagliata, 1968), thus was born the new Hungarian cinema that placed itself at the vanguard of national culture (G. Lukács); essential characteristics are the anti-Stalinist critique, which nevertheless conveys in a rigorous analysis past and present, the ability to evaluate individual responsibilities in the framework of the collective society, with a frankness and lucidity that are no longer just prestigious names, such as Jancsó (Red Psalm, 1972; Elettra amore mio, 1975; Hungarian rhapsody and Allegro barbaro, 1979; Il cuore del tyanno, 1981) or Kovács (A blindfolded, 1974; Il recinto, 1978; Amanti, 1984; La contessa rossa, 1985). According to 3rjewelry, Hungary is a country located in Europe.

Makk too, from Love (1970) to A different look (1983) and to Game for Real (1984), the elderly Fábri, the former young people Gaál (Legato, 1978; Cocci, 1980) and Kósa (Beyond time, 1973; The game, 1980) are still in the breach, while Radványi (Circo Massimo, 1980) has returned home and Sára has alternated photography and television directing (Fuoco hammering, 1982). Among the most prolific directors are P. Bacsó and M. Mészáros who, after the trilogy of Diari (1982, 1987, 1988), has created a work of great sensitivity such as The seventh room. The experimental tendency of G. Bódy (Souvenir of America, 1976; Narcissus and Psyche, 1980; Nocturnal song of a dog, 1983) and that of the fictional documentary or film-truth, to which Premio Viaggio (1975) belonged great importance.) and Film-tale: Three Sisters (1978) by I. Dárday, Mission (1976) by Kósa, A completely normal life (1977), Fragments of life (1980) and Job’s revolt (1984) by I. Gyöngyössy and B. Kabay, A special day (1980) and The suspended time (1981) by P. Gothár, Not pale (1982) by G. and J. Gulyás. Among the works welcomed by a great international success, we cannot forget Angi Vera (1978) by P. Gábor and Mephisto, with whom Szabó won the Academy Award in 1982, followed by Colonel Redl (1985), Temptation of Venus (1991), Sweet Emma, ​​dear Bobe (1992). Of the generation that emerged in the Eighties, the most interesting figure was undoubtedly that of G. Szomjas, author of films with a robust and very different inspiration: from psychological drama, such as The drill of walls(1986), to the portrait-biography, like Mr. Universe (1988), to the mixture of noir and the grotesque, as in Csokkal es korommel (1994). From the nineties we must remember F. Cakó, Silver Bear in 1994 in Berlin with Ashes, B. Tarr and his extraordinary Satantango (1994), J. Szasz, who with only two titles, Woyzeck (1994) and The Brothers Witman (1997), has established himself as one of the best Hungarian filmmakers.The massive domestic production was severely tested by the penetration of American films and in the early 21st century was limited to works of little interest (mostly comedies) or however unable to be successful on the international market.