Hungarian filmmakers go to abroad

Korda Film Studio in Etyek

The film “Für Elise” won the award for the best film and that for the best screenwriter in the film festival of Ludwigshafen. The screenwriter, Erzsébet Rácz, is Hungarian. She was supposed to be the director as well and the work should have been a Hungarian-German co-production. However, the same happened as to many other Hungarian film projects, namely that one could not find enough material support in Hungary. Luckily, the project has been realized in Germany. Wolfgang Dinslage became its director, due to the sponsors’ wish.

A young Hungarian director, Sára Cserhalmi won, award in the Warsaw Film Festival for directors of their first films with her film “Dear Betrayed Friends”. Péter Bergendy’s “The Exam” achieved success in the international film festival of Chicago, its protagonists won the award for the best actress and that of the best actor respectively.

Hungarian films has been traditionally successful in the international film festivals, our camera-men are especially famous and successful. A country with a language spoken by really few non-native-speakers logically can attract more attention with its visual arts than with its literature. So the success of Hungarian films is connected to the branding of the country, therefore films are usually supported with a significant involvement of state budget. Of course the majority of those who work in the film industry do not earn their living from only Hungarian production. A much larger circle of people got employed in this industry since American productions have begun to be shot in Budapest. For instance  Schindler’s List. Huge studio systems has been erected also to satisfy the demands of foreigner productions.

The situation of film production in Hungary recently declined. One might argue that in years of recession it only luxury expenditure. In my opinion, however, film industry should be perceived as a proper industry that employs masses of people, potential unemployed masses if structure of support changes.

Then you could also argue, that in many countries of the world film industry (and many other industries as well) has nothing to do with state budget, so filmmakers in Hungary should also seek for private sponsors now, that the government practically stopped to spend any money on film production.

The problem is, that the most well-known directors, camera-men and screenwriters can go to abroad and many of them finds possibilities to work on films. And it is feared, that if native films were not be produced in the studios, than the whole system will not attract as many foreigner productions and investors, so the masses of unknown workers of the declining film-industry – such as sound-engineers, send-ins, and the like – will lose their job. So the short-term governmental sparing  might result much greater losses in the long-term.

Agnes Kelemen