Novelties of the Hungarian film industry

According to the organizing committee 35 thousand tickets were sold until February 2nd for the screenings of the 38th Hungarian Filmweek. So far 34 supplementary screenings have been organized.

Death of principal actor Lajos Bertók has been a devastating blow to the shooting of Kornél Mundruczó’s latest film Delta. After the producers’ decision to go on with the shooting, the question remained: could they find a powerful, imposing personality who could step in the late actor’s shoes.

Kornél Mundruczó has announced today that he found a suitable person in popular violinist Félix Lajkó. For the sake of credibility Lajkó’s character’s mother will not be played by Mari Kiss but Lili Monori, whose lover in the film is played by Sándor Gáspár. The producers plan the film’s premiere next year at the Filmweek.

Producer and co-writer of the film Viktória Petrányi revealed that the financial base for the production remains the same, that is in the German-Hungarian co-production Essential Production stays the main partner, but all the other partners stay onboard (Hungarian Motion Picture Public Found, National Cultural Fund, Ministry of Education and Culture).

Joining them are leading production company Filmpartners and commercial channel TV2 whose help certainly comes in handy considering that the insurance payment owing to the death could not be evoked in its entirety. Thus the production is in the minus to the detriment of the set design and the crew. One thing that could not be changed is the location. The forsaken, barren world of the Danube delta is of the outmost significance to the movie.

Kornél Mundruczó announced that he found a suitable person in popular violinist Félix Lajkó.

Film buffs are surely aware of the book series 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die which has been published in countless languages all over the world. As this is a licence-based publication the original publisher gives little room to manoeuvre for the editors of the national editions. The latter in Hungary have always managed to achieve that one or two national films make it into the book but the number of these is severely limited. This fact inspired acclaimed publisher Gabo to produce a Hungarian version based on the original international concept. This of course will hopefully have to be re-edited every year as we all trust Hungarian filmmakers will produce many new unforgettable flicks. According to the editors’ intentions the tome, discussing Hungarian movies from Béla Balogh’s 1916 Az obsitos (The soldier) to Péter Halász’s Herminamező - Szellemjárás (Herminamező Haunt) from 2005, is further proof that it’s worth writing and reading about Hungarian films.

The world’s biggest state of the art film studio is being built in Etyek, near Budapest, using state assistance but from private capital. The investors expect real blockbusters to be made here, though the identity of the first occupants is still a secret. Soon, in around 100 days Korda Film Studio is to open its gates, but the construction is only completed in December, said managing director László Krisán in the press conference held last Saturday.

During the press conference minister of culture István Hiller pointed out that realizing the Sándor Korda Film Studio has been the result of the state, the cultural policy, private investors and private capital working together in a new fashion: a unique cooperation never before seen in Central Europe. According to the minister the investment is the new representation of state role taking and national cultural policy.

Of the new job opportunities Hiller said that Studio Korda also provides professional training to which Hungarian higher education and film education in particular need to react.

The project is carried out through the investment of businesspeople Sándor Demján and Péter Munk, Hungarian born Hollywood producer Andrew Vajna and the Rotschild family, solely from private capital. Soundstages of the Sándor Korda Film Studio via the one-stop-shop system will be capable of tending to the production of any film, TV and advertisement production and also to any other large scale events.

The state, the cultural policy, private investors and private capital working together in a new fashion

Emil Novák reported on the situation involving the STÁB (“crew”) school initiated by the HSC  on the press conference of HSC. As he put it, “filling the gaps” was the main aim of funding the school providing special professional training. With the opening of two major film studios around Budapest (along with the Korda studio, similarly impressive Stern is about to be launched as well) it is not unimaginable that four or five big productions will be shot parallel in the country, and there will not be enough Hungarian crew to go around. This is what STÁB aims to help by training lighting technicians, assistant camera operators and digital post-production technicians in half-year courses. Novák emphasized that participants don’t have to make do with a simple certificate at the end of the semester but surely get work as well. They are already employed during the training process by companies and filmmakers working together with the school. Next year new courses will be launched along with a specialized English language course with special focus on the international jargon and slang of filmmaking. The initiative harbours very good connection with international organization Imago so it is quite possible that the centre of the association uniting directors of photography of 25 countries will be based in Budapest.

Where does the film industry stand and how is the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary doing? That’s what we asked of Erzsébet Tóth, head of the organization.

“Without doubt our most significant result was the helming of the four year film financing complex plan that will make the filmmakers’ job predictable and easier to plan at long last. It was obvious that the financing system that was changing from year to year did not take into account the demands of the film industry as the preparation of a project can take years. This new system can guarantee the sum we can work with up until 2010. Granted, this sum is a decrease, as compared to last year we have 30 percent less money at our disposal this year, but it will gradually increase until it reaches last year’s level. All in all, this drop though not good news, will not significantly jeopardize filmmaking in Hungary.

Ending a ten year long process, as of January 29th all shares of oldest state owned studio Mafilm and the Hungarian Filmlaboratories belong to the Motion Picture Public Foundation. This places the two organizations under a joint professional control, which makes the use of resources much more effective among other things. Equally important is that the re-organization of the filmmaking infrastructure can begin, a process that couldn’t start fast enough. The 33 films in competition in last year’s Filmweek were made on less than 7 billion HUF altogether, whereas this year the 34 movies in competition were made on 12 billion, less than half of what was state funding.”