HUNGAROFILM DIVISION

The chances of Hungarian Film Abroad

Mokép’s Hungarofilm Division is in charge of selling Hungarian films abroad. Although no Hungarian film was able to repeat the international success of Hukkle, a few large deals have been made. We interviewed Zsuzsa Szigeti, Mokép’s international sales director about the company’s sales practice abroad.

Hungarofilm Kft merged into Mokép in November 2001, and has been operating under the name Hungarofilm Division ever since. 80% of productions contacts them and puts them in charge of foreign distribution.

Hungarofilm, which used to be in charge of export, import and festivals as well, was established in 1956 and enjoyed a monopoly position at the time. With the change in the political system, the market was liberalized: currently, anyone can export films. There’s another company, Interpannonia, which also sells films, they specialize in cartoons. There are a few independent distributors, but their biggest disadvantage is that they don’t have enough capital, yet preparing a film for foreign distribution is a costly undertaking. Currently, the main buyers of Hungarofilm Division are TV stations, and the growth of the DVD market is also a positive sign.

The unparalleled success of Hukkle

In the past years, only a few films entered the foreign cinema circuits, so Hukkle’s world tour last year was a big step ahead. Beside a number of European countries, Hukkle was screened in the U.S., Japan, Canada and Taiwan as well.

But in case of new films, only a few sales were made. Public service TV stations do not uniformly appreciate the different films, either. The bigger deals include sales to the Turkish and Bosnian TV stations. In addition to Hukkle, the Turkish have bought Ébrenjárók, Hamvadó cigarettavég, Szerelemtől sújtva, Bizarr Románc, Az utolsó blues, Felhő a Gangesz felett and Jadviga párnája. We managed to sell Rengeteg  to the Romanian and Croatian television, while Dealer was bought by the Slovenian television buyer attending the Film Week and by a Greek cinema and DVD-distributor. Kelj fel komám will soon be aired by the Croatian television. The Japanese picked Telitalálat, which will be shown to cinema and DVD audiences.

The interest in Dealer is huge due to its success at international festivals, many clients of Hungarofilm are waiting to receive the preview. Producer Andras Muhi of Inforg Studio and director Benedek Fliegauf are currently working on a shorter version, and as a rsult, foreign sales are on hold for a few weeks.

Muhi told filmhu that for estehtic reasons, the new version of Dealer will be 20 minutes shorter, a few scenes that „interfere with the film’s final message” will be cut. Dealer’s new version  will soon be screened at festivals. Muhi added that nevertheless, it was the film’s longer version that swept up five awards in Argentina. The director and the producer have agreed that they will decide together whether the changes resulting in the shorter version really serve the purpose of creating a stronger effect.

Film Week movies seen through the eyes of foreigners

According to Hungarofilm, the tastes of the Hungarian and he international film industry coincide more or less, so there’s international interest in the films that have won an award at the Film Week in Budapest. The films most in demand include  Másnap, Tamara, Kontroll, Dealer and Mélyen őrzött titkok . The films that can be sold the best are the ones that are not tied to a place, historic event or culture, so foreign audiences can also relate to the story – for example, Másnap by Attila Janisch or Tamara by Szabolcs Hajdu.

Hungarofilm invites a number of its clients each year to the Film Week in Budapest. They consider this an investment, since the guests usually buy several films.

The film industry in general knows little about the costs of providing the conditions necessary for the successful sale of a film abroad. The first task is to prepare a Beta version of the film with English subtitles and a brief presentation of the film. These are produced jointly with the Hungarian Film Union. This means a loan of several hundred thousand forints, which is reimbursed by the producer after the film has been sold and the revenue has poured in. Experience shows that these costs are often reimbursed only years later - in some cases, never.

International fairs, growing interest

Participation at international fairs is also a costly undertaking, but deals made at the Berlin and Cannes festivals Hungarofilm attends together with the Film Union make up 50% of Hungarofilm’s annual turnover. At the 2004 International Film Fair in Berlin, the company had many successful negotiations concerning the sale of both classic Hungarian films and the latest productions (primarily Dealer).

Mokép’s Hungarofilm Division is planning to reorganize its export activities fundamentally. Since the new Film Law came into force - and more importantly, because of Hungary’s EU entry - there has been growing interest in Hungarian films. During the past months, the circle of decade-old partners has widened. The main reason for that is that in EU countries, Hungary’s quota classification will change, and the opportunities for direct TV sales will grow.

The Hungarian film industry is planning on increasing its presence at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which will hopefully boost buyers’ interest as well.