1945-56

Firstly in Europe, as early as October 1945, a film was being shot in Hunnia, based on Sándor Bódy's novel "The School-Mistress" , directed by Márton Keleti. This was the first feature film of the "democratic Hungarian film industry".

The war changed many things in the life of Hungarian society, but the system and organisation of film production lingered on for yet some time. Beside the shortage of capital the lack of raw materials also hampered production. The system of sales was broken down and the movie-theatre network shrank to half of its previous size. Although some attempts were made at co-production and the government promised subsidies, none of these forms of production proved successful, making the total number of feature films produced until the end of 1946 three.

As the lack or existence of a regular Hungarian film production more and more became a political question, the coalition parties ( the Hungarian Communist Party, the Social-Democratic Party, the Independent Small-Holders' Party and the National Peasant Party ) established their own film-producing enterprises. In 1947-48 all of them produced a feature film, but two of these, "A Light Muse" by the studio owned by the Small-Holders' Party and "Prophet of the Fields" produced by the Sickle Company of the National Peasant Party were never shown to the public. However, Géza Radványi's "Somewhere in Europe", produced by MAFIRT's capital injection, won international acclaim and Márton Keleti's "The Siege of Beszterce" was produced by Orient Film Studios Co. Ltd, owned by the Hungarian Social-Democratic Party, at the same time. The independent producer and director István Szőts's "Song from the Wheat Fields" was suspended by censorship.

With the nationalization of film production from August 1948, in a new organisational order, in the spirit of the new principles, under the watchful eyes of politics, only films that were in accordance with " the new spirit of the new era" could expect survival.

The Ministry of People's Education was set up on July 11th 1949, presided over by József Révai. József Révai was member of the Political Committee and Secretary of the Central Board of the new party called Hungarian Workers' Party, formed by the fusion of the Hungarian Communist Party and the Hungarian Social-Democratic Party. He was the man to supervise the entire Hungarian film production. From that time on to June 1953 József Révai alone had the prerogative to decide in every question, letting a new style develop that was later called "schematic film".

The first film produced by the nationalised film industry, "A Foothold of Land" in 1948 by Frigyes Bán, had yet won international fame, but the films that followed in its steps became more and more schematic and dull.

A turn-about was prompted by the formation of Imre Nagy's government in June 1953. József Révai was replaced by József Darvas as head of the Ministry of People's Education. The Hungarian audience became acquainted with a few of the Italian neo-realist films, and their influence, coupled with the easing of political discipline, led to a renewal of domestic production and to the birth of Hungarian motion picture art. Instead of the "problems" of work and production these films highlight the deep moral crisis which the man of the age was going through.

After a relatively short period of searching, marked by films such as "Sign of Life" in 1954 by Zoltán Fábri and "The birth of Simon Menyhért" in 1954 by Zoltán Várkonyi, Hungarian film found its new path that eventually led it, -first in Central-Eastern Europe, - into the spotlight of international interest. The row of masterpieces is opened by "Running Over" by Viktor Gertler, then continued by Felix Máriássy's "A Piccolo of Beer", Károly Makk's "Hospital Room No. 9", with the process of renewal coming to its climax in Zoltán Fábri's "Merry-Go-Round".

Important films of the era are Károly Makk's "Liliomfi", Zoltán Fábri's "Mr. Teacher Hannibal" and Imre Fehér's "In Foot-Soldier's Clothes". Mention must be made of "Bitter Truth" by Zoltán Várkonyi which was not shown to the public.

from 1957 to the present day

From 1957 feature films were shot in Hunnia Film Studio and in Budapest Film Studio. In 1958 the first professional magazine was started, called World of Film. The Hungarian Film Institute was set up in 1957, and in 1960 its magazine, Film Culture was first published. At the same time, the movement of film-clubs was organised.

The formation of the Béla Balázs Studio, (1959) marked important changes in the era. The backbone of the studio was the legendary Máriássy-class, but the studio continues until this very day to be the No. 1 workshop for film experiments.

The founding generation makes its entrée on the scene by a series of films thematically related, centring around the questions of leaving adolescence behind and those of self-reflection. ( István Gaál: "Carried Away", 1963, István Szabó: "Age of Dreams", 1964. ) But it was Miklós Jancsó's "Fasten and Unfasten", -reminiscent of Antonioni's lengthy visual arrangements, - which with its renewal of the methods of visual expression is the first in the powerful current of Hungarian films dedicated to generations self-reflection and the problem of our relationship to tradition. (Films by István Gaál, Pál Zolnay, Sándor Sára and Ferenc Kósa.)

This is Hungarian film at its best. In 1965, Jancsó makes his "Outlaws", the international celebration of which can only be compared to that of the Oscar-winning "Mephisto". And the same year sees the birth of András Kovács's powerful historical analysis about the massacres of Újvidék, today's Novi Sad ( Cold Days), and Zoltán Fábri's Twenty Hours. The year's Public Prize was awarded to Márton Keleti's comedy entitled "The corporal and his friends", poking fun at the little man's survival techniques in countries with "draughty" history. István Szabó's "Father" performs the deheroization of the Eastern-European structure with confessional lyricism. In addition to the directors characterising Hungarian film for decades actors like Zoltán Latinovics, Éva Ruttkai, Dezső Garas, Iván Darvas, Edit Domján, Mari Törőcsik, Imre Sinkovics, András Kozák, József Madaras, etc. become internationally known.

The significant trends that developed in the 1970s continued into the 1980s. The socio-critical realism and historical analysis is carried on in the films of András Kovács, Pál Gábor, Márta Mészáros and Károly Makk. ( Walls, 1967, Vera Angi, 1978, Face to Face, 1979, and the Diary -trilogy.)

The parabolic "Master-course" of 1970 or Dezső Magyar's "Punitive Expedition" of the same year, made in the Béla Balázs Studio, continue the trend started by Miklós Jancsó's powerful historical models.

The genre of grotesque satire is launched by the locked up and legendary "The Witness" (Péter Bacsó, 1968). Ferenc Kardos's "A Crazy Night", Lívia Gyarmathy's and Géza Böszörményi's films ( Do you know sandi-mandi, Little birds, Give me a break! Mixed-Up Heart) Ferenc András's naturalistic "The Devil is Beating his Wife", Sándor Rózsa's Spider football all continue this tradition. The analysis of the conflicts between our private and public lives is most powerful in the films of Péter Bacsó and Márta Mészáros, the latter a great analyst of women's lives. ( Outbreak, 1970, The Present Tense, 1971, Free Breathing, 1972, Adoption, 1975).

In among the aesthetically inspired films two real masterpieces can be found: Károly Makk's "Love" of 1970, and Zoltán Huszárik's "Sindbad" of 1971. The traditional narrative structure is diluted and an organic dream-like visual world comes forth in the following films: István Szabó's "25, Tűzoltó Street" of 1973, and "Tales of Budapest", from 1976, or Miklós Jancsó's "Heavenly Lamb" and Ferenc Kósa's "Pouring with Snow" of 1975.

An original figure of the popular artistic film is the sometimes tragic, but usually lyrical grotesque Pál Sándor. The fundamental notion of his "Old Time Football" of 1973, namely that "you need a team", became legendary. Péter Gárdos and Géza Bereményi carry on the tradition of the movie based on a bewitching visual world.
("Good God", 1984, "Whooping Cough", 1986, "Eldorado", 1988, "The Tour", 1993.)

In their "Mephisto" based on Klaus Mann's novel István Szabó and Lajos Koltai alloy the expectations of the audience, epic structure and a philosophical message about the psychological problems of 20th century artist with great professional care. In their portrayal, 20th century artist is deprived of the sense of security, fighting for appreciation and autonomy. All this together won the first Oscar for Hungarian film in 1982.

The young directors, cameramen, and writers of the Béla Balázs Studio turned with an appeal to the professional community to set up a "sociological- film group" as early as 1962. Ferenc Grunwalsky, György Szomjas, Gábor Bódy, Dezső Magyar, Péter Dobai, Gyula Gazdag, Judit Ember and others considered their main duty to be the unmasking with documentarian methods of the power-mechanisms and anomalies of mainly smaller communities. The famous films produced by the Budapest School, formed as a result of the appeal are,: Gyula Gazdag: "The Decree", 1972. István Dárday: "Film novel" 1977, László Vitézy: "Peacetime". 1979, Béla Tarr: "Family Fire-Trap", 1979.

In addition to the documentarist movement, there is a powerful striving for the dissolution of the narrative structure, for experimentation with methods of expression in BBS. This was a trend which representatives of other genres of art also joined, such as Dóra Mauer, Tibor Hajas, Péter Halász, Zoltán Jeney, Miklós Vidovszky. The most dominant figures of the movement were Miklós Erdélyi and Gábor Bódy. From the mid 70s Gábor Bódy and András Jeles will be the dominant characters of the perfectionist film industry.

Bódy's first major film, "American Picture Card" (1975), experimented with the manipulation of archive pictures through the portrayal of Hungarian 48-ers fighting in the American Civil War. He tried to explore the encyclopaedic possibilities of the moving picture even in films meant for the general public, such as "Psyche",(1980). András Jeles's metaphysical films criticising civilisation are also documents of an age of experiment. ( Dream-Brigade in 1983, Annunciation in 1984.) This is the tradition carried on by Ildikó Enyedi's cosmic-ironic fairy tales. ( "My 20th century", 1988, "The Magic Hunter", 1944).

Members of the Béla Balázs Studio continue to experiment with the research of narrative forms. ( András Szirtes, Tibor Klöpfer, Júlia Szederkényi).

Memorable works of art of contemporary Hungarian film are Péter Gothár's portrayals of our state of mind with grotesque visual effects: ( Time Stands Still, 1980, It is Time, 1983, Just like in America in 1987.)

In the 80s, "new sensibility" appears in Hungarian film as well. (János Xantus: Eskimo Woman freezing, 1983, Péter Tímár: A Little Healthy Eroticism, 1986, Sándor Sőth: Agent on Wings, 1987.)

The starting point of today's most dominant movements ( the documentarist school, independent and non-professional film) was András Jeles's "Little Valentino". In films depicting the state of man on the periphery of society universal human fate is recognised by present-day audiences. Examples are: György Szomjas: "Wreckage film", and "With Kisses and Nails", Ferenc Grünwalsky: "A Complete Day", "Little, but Very Strong" András Szőke: "Cotton-Wool Hen" Péter Gothár: "The Division" and Béla Tarr's monumental enterprise: "The Devil's Tango".

Today, Hungarian film production is supported by the Hungarian Moving Picture Foundation and other sponsors.

20 Hungarian feature films were produced in 1994.