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Culture in the Long Run

Distributors I.

With the participation of some of the largest domestic companies, Concorde Rt established the first Hungarian film trust. The mission of the trust is to play the role of a professional mediator between the films shot in Hungary and in need of financing and large, profitable domestic enterprises. At the press conference held at the Uránia National Cinema participants presented the most important facts concerning the project.

While in Hungary, the next steps of the reform process have already provoked a heated debate, the Film Law made it to the headlines abroad as well. Screen International, one of the largest film industry magazines, devoted two pages and its front page to the Hungarian film law. The article „All Eyes on Hungary” offers a detailed overview of the tax incentives that entered into force on April 1 and of their potential results. According to the magazine, the Czechs have started to worry about losing their leading position in the region.

As a result of the tax and investment incentives introduced by the new Hungarian film law, producer Andrew G. Vajna and investor Sándor Demján are going to build the largest world’s largest film studio in Etyek, Culture Minister István Hiller announced at the Cannes film festival. The businessmen informed the press of their plans concerning the studio named after Hungarian-born filmmaker Alexander Korda at a press conference on June 2 at the WestEnd Hilton in Budapest.

The new system is intended to increase the number of films produced - partly or entirely - in Hungary, therefore to strengthen the Hungarian audiovisual industry, to increase the production capacity of the country and the number of experts employed in this sector, thus to generate a positive impact on the entire economy.

Studios, services, training

After a long and hard debate, the jury of the readers of the Berliner Zeitung chose Dealer by Benedek Fliegauf as their favourite of the 50 feature films at the Berlinale that ended on 15 February. The award is 2500 Euros.

Background to the new regulation of the film industry implemented by Act II of 2004 Motion Picture Act - Download

The film industry and politicians agree that the Film Law passed in December 2003 is a milestone in the reform of the film industry that has been dragging on since 1990.

One of the key goals of the Film Law is to improve the competitiveness of the film industry, to stimulate the rise in Hungarian subcontract commissions and to encourage domestic and foreign investment in film production in Hungary. Experts expect the industry to get a boost from the introduction of various tax benefits.

A senior journalist for CINEMA magazine, and a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Scott Orlin tells us about his favorite Hungarian films and his take on European cinema.

Altogether about 120 foreign guests from 26 counties are attending this year’s Film Week upon invitation by the Hungarian Film Union. Guests include the program organizers and directors of international film festivals, and representatives of the international press. This year even members of Hollywood’s Golden Globe nomination committee are going to attend the Film Week, just as the organizers of the Year of Hungarian Culture in the Netherlands and in Russia, says Éva Vezér, head of the Film Union.

HUNGARY HAS BEEN FACING RADICAL REFORMS ON THE FIELD OF NATIONAL FILM INDUSTRY SINCE THE COUNTRY’S PARLIAMENT PASSED A NEW FILM LAW LAST DECEMBER. The government has expressed its commitment to the development of the Hungarian film already early last year when it declared that the state subsidy of the motion picture sector will rise to 10 billion HUF (40 million euros) by 2006. The new law determines the legal framework of the support and the organizational structure of the state bodies working on the area, plus introduces a new tax incentive system which is about to make Hungary one of the most competitive film environments in the continent.

23 feature films, 22 shorts, 13 experimental films and 42 documentaries will be screened at the 35th Hungarian Film Week. Based on the picks of the pre-selection panel, we present some of the competitors.

Best Short Animated Film Award went to Líviusz Gyulai’s Sindbad, Bon Voyage! at the 6th International Film Festival for Children and Young People in Olympia, Greece.