Szabó attended the screening, as did Minister of Education and Culture István Hiller, who is in China for a week-long visit as part of the Hungarian Cultural Season, which started in September.
"Hungary, as China, has contributed many talents to international cinematic art," Szabó told an audience of film students at the Beijing Film Academy, which is hosting the nine-day festival.
Szabó noted that the first Hungarian film was made more than a century ago. "We are a small country but our experience is large," he said.
Hiller said Hungary wants to give Chinese-Hungarian cultural ties new impetus with the Hungarian Cultural Season. "We consider it important to introduce Hungarian culture to the younger generation in China," he said.
Deputy director of the Beijing film academy Li Xiaojing said the Hungarian films shown in China so far had been well received by audiences and critics alike.
Also on the programme of the Hungarian Film Festival in Beijing are Szabó's Oscar-winning film Mephisto, Márta Mészáros' The Miraculous Mandarin, Attila Mispál's Paths of Light, Krisztina Goda's Just Sex and Nothing Else and Dyga Zsombor's Real Circus. Ágnes Kocsis's Fresh Air, Róbert Koltai's We Never Die and György Pálfi's Hukkle are also on the programme.
The Hungarian Cultural Season in China, which is entitled Love, Liberty, after a line from a poem by the Hungarian poet Petőfi, who is well known in China, will run until April 2008. Several hundred Hungarian performers and events are included on the programme, which presents Hungary's culture in four of China's largest cities.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
