New Hungarian Films Show in Washington

October 3 at 2:00PM

The regimented routines and discordant conflicts of a 1912 Catholic boarding school create the mysterious dramatic core of Prank, adapted from Dezsö Kosztolányi's popular novella Tréfa. László Seregi's cinematography and Péter Horgas' production design add beauty to this work that won top prize for direction at the 2009 Filmszemle. (Péter Gárdos, 2008, 35 mm, Hungarian with subtitles, 93 minutes)

 

Iszka's Journey

October 3 at 4:00PM

A finely tuned tale of poor villagers in Transylvania's Zsil River valley, Iszka's Journey centers on somber, resilient young Iszka, who abandons her family only to be pulled into an orphanage and abduction. The cinema verité tone and spare beauty derive from Francisco Gózon's camera, Razvan Radu's art direction, and Mária Varga's resplendent performance as Iszka. (Csaba Bollók, 2007, 35 mm, Hungarian with subtitles, 92 minutes)

 

Miss Universe of 1929

October 10 at 12:30PM

The delicate story of cousins Lisl Goldarbeiter and Marci Tänzer, both born in 1907 to a middle-class Austro-Hungarian Jewish family, is retold through Marci's home movies of Lisl, whose rise to beauty pageantry stardom culminated in her crowing as the first Miss Universe. (Péter Forgács, 2006, digital beta, German with subtitles, 70 minutes)

 

Salute to Katapult Film:
White Palms
preceded by 411-Z

October 10 at 2:30PM

Iván Angelusz, co-founder of Katapult Film, in person

Katapult Film Ltd., a collective formed in Budapest by protégés of Hungarian master filmmaker Sándor Simó, includes some of the most promising directorial talent in contemporary Hungary. In Katapult's White Palms, a gifted gymnast arrives in Calgary, Canada, to coach. As he struggles to settle into a new life in an unfamiliar land, his old-world past starts intruding on his performance. (Szabolcs Hajdu, 2006, 35 mm, English, Hungarian, Russian with subtitles, 100 minutes)

411-Z's metaphorical tale takes place within a ship on the Danube whose captain is, literally, out to lunch. (Dániel Erdélyi, 2007, 35 mm, 5 minutes)

 

Salute to Katapult Film:
Overnight
preceded by Urlicht

October 11 at 4:30PM

Ferenc Török and Diana Groó in person

Probing the murky and ruthless world of international finance, Overnight's young broker Péter Vas tries to settle a complex 24-hour global transaction, only to witness the process go awry. The film is the final piece in this director's three-part study of his peers-the generation that came of age after the breakup of the Eastern Bloc. (Ferenc Török, 2008, 35 mm, Hungarian with subtitles, 105 minutes)

Preceding Overnight, Urlicht is an operatic dream about a young woman's fear of trains. (Diana Groó, 2006, Hungarian with subtitles, 15 minutes)

 

Man from London

October 17 at 4:00PM

Transforming a Georges Simenon mystery novel into a haunting art film is a task meant for virtuoso auteur Béla Tarr. A morose dock worker (Miroslav Krobot) silently watches the clandestine transfer of a briefcase full of British bills. As his minimal plot unfolds, Tarr creates a series of mesmerizing tableaux, "a typically Tarrian world marked by long passages of [striking] stasis and silence"-Dimitri Eipides. (Béla Tarr, 2007, 35 mm, English and French with subtitles, 135 minutes)

 

Delta

October 24 at 4:30PM

Kornél Mundruczó's self-assured approach has garnered praise from international festivals, and his new film set in Romania's lush Danube delta is no exception. A man and his estranged sister relocate to the riverbank, setting up a subsistence lifestyle that triggers problems in the local community. "The images reinforce the timeless primeval tragic elements"-Ron Holloway. (Kornél Mundruczó, 2008, 35 mm, Hungarian with subtitles, 92 minutes)