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| János Can Togay |
CHB director János Can Togay said this year?s Cinema Total was being organised in cooperation with the Polish Institute in Berlin and the Polish Film Institute under the title Central European Space.
A number of roundtable talks on film policy are planned for the programme on February 11-15. The producer and government commissioner Andrew G. Vajna will represent the Hungarian National Film Fund.
Cinema Total?s contribution to the Berlinale has now become a tradition offering an important platform for Central Eastern European cinema as well as a reflection of cooperation in the region, said Can Togay.
He said the Vienna Film Fund?s assessment of Cinema Total as the most important accompanying event of the Berlinale may be an exaggeration, but added, ?It?s certain that it is a significant event that coincides with the most important film festival in a European capital.?
The chief patron of this year?s Cinema Total is Doris Pack, chairperson of the European Parliament?s Committee on Culture and Education.
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| Mari Törőcsik |
The guests of honour will be Mari Törőcsik and Márta Mészáros, ?living legends? of Hungarian film.
Mészáros was the first woman director to win the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 1975. She was presented the Berlinale Kamera lifetime achievement award in 2007.
In addition to her work in film, Mészáros is an emblematic figure in Polish-Hungarian relations, Can Togay said.
Cinema Total international curator András Monory-Mész said a forum on film financing in Hungary would take place this year after another like it last year drew strong interest. An overview of changes in the Hungarian film industry over the past year will be part of the talk, he added.
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| Márta Mészáros |
The Pitch Stop and True Stories programmes will also be part of this year? Cinema Total again. The director Benedek Fliegauf, whose film Just the Wind, about the recent serial murders of Roma in Hungary, is competing at the Berlinale, has been invited to participate in the True Stories programme.
The GROULAC countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are being offered a place in the spotlight at this year?s Cinema Total.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
