Directing
Three boys, they all committed murder. After discovering their haunting faces and disturbing stories in a banned prison documentary from 1984, the filmmaker goes out to find them and discovers untold secrets and a Hungary he has never known.
World War II, occupied Soviet Union. István Semetka is a simple Hungarian farmer who serves as a Sub-Lieutenant in a special unit scouting for partisan groups. On their way to a remote village, his company falls under enemy fire. As the commander is killed, Semetka has to overcome his fears and take command of the unit as he is dragged into a chaos that he cannot control.
Harm means deliberate self-injuring in our poetic documentary, which follows three brave and emotionally capturing characters who are ready to unfold their unsettled past with the risk of discovering something painful on the way.
The film follows the first talent contest rap competition held at the juvenile prison in Tököl, from the preparations and rehearsals to the competition itself. How can a juvenile prisoner showcase their talent? Rap and hip-hop are popular in prisons around the world, and the subculture that has developed has its own hierarchy, sign system, and language; rap is the language of prison. How does that sound in Hungarian? The participants in the 2010 competition have all been released by now, and many of them have fulfilled their childhood dreams and plans. However, some have not been so lucky: Krisztián Nádasdi was murdered shortly after his release.
1916. Austria-Hungary. When the former professional of Irish descent Jimmy Hogan encountered the self-taught street-footballer György Orth in the rapidly industrializing, multilingual and multicultural city of Budapest, a new chapter was opened in the history of the sport. The style of play embodied by what came to be known as the Danubian School revolutionized the game and marked the birth of modern football. All the same, the achievements of both men came at a high price.
When the war in Ukraine started in February 2022, leaving her family behind, Sonia, a 12-year-old circus artist was set on a journey full of uncertainties through Europe. Her aura and charm, as well as her talent make her stand out from even this extraordinary crowd, causing her extreme struggles and triumphs.
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In 2021, modest Hungarian cattle farm worker Feci joins an organised tour of the South of France with his wife Klara. The trip sees the couple take a plane for the first fime and places them outside of their comfort zone. A couple, more seasoned travellers, takes them under their wing, but on their arrival at Nice airport, Feci is forced to quarantine in the hotel due to a mix-up over his COVID test. Excluded from an excursion booked while he was in quarantine, Feci takes a life-changing tour of Provencal monasteries on his own, while Klara sets off with her newfound friends.
Ema & Death’s-Head deals with the precarious border between humanism and the protection of one’s own life in situations when one excludes the other. Marika Sándorfi is hiding a Jewish boy during the dramatic era of the First Slovak State on the Slovak-Hungarian border. Šimon Holan, the boy in hiding, has a special ability to survive thanks to dreaming and a child’s fantasy.
Zsóka, a Hungarian mother of two living in Berlin returns to Hungary for the summer vacation at their holiday home near Lake Balaton. During the holiday, she gets to know a woman and her two boys and a feeling keeps mounting in her: she suspects that the woman is emotionally and physically abusing the boys. Zsóka becomes increasingly oppressed by her own passivity and helplessness and the weight of responsibility that would come with concrete action.
In the courtyard of an old mill, the grandchildren of the elderly owners are living their best life, when the presence of a newly arrived, mysterious relative slowly begins to creep through the air of the homestead. As the initially temporary state seems to become permanent, the tension mounts, and the shadows of childhood comingle with the fragile love and power relationships of the farm’s inhabitants, amidst the atmosphere of communist Hungary in the 1950s and ‘60s.
As Hungary’s political climate becomes increasingly radicalized, Virág, a former green politician, loses faith in the democratic parliament of Hungary and retires from politics. She and her musician partner Nóra decide to adopt a child and focus on building a family together. With a sensitive lens and close access, directors Asia Dér and Sári Haragonics follow the two women through their long and ultimately successful adoption process to bring home their young daughter of Roma origins. But tensions begin to rise between the two as Virág thrives in her role as mother and Nóra struggles to find her place within the family. As the rising tides of hate and homophobia in Hungary begin to overflow into their family, their lives hit a boiling point and they must face the difficult decision of whether to leave their country behind.
Work begins in the industrial plant of the Pantotechnicon Works tomorrow. The machine will only work perfectly if every part is in the right place. But is it? Mr. Lux has his qualms about it.
Alone, Eva Fahidi returned home to Hungary after WWII. At 20 years of age, she had survived Auschwitz Birkenau, while 49 members of her family were murdered, including her mother, father, and little sister. Today, at age 90, Eva is asked to participate in a dance theatre performance about her life's journey. This would be her first experience performing on a stage. Reka, the director, imagines a duet between Eva and a young, internationally acclaimed dancer, Emese. Reka wants to see these two women, young and old, interact on stage, to see how their bodies, and stories, can intertwine. Eva agrees immediately. Three women - three months - a story of crossing boundaries. Whilst the extraordinary moments of Eva's life are distilled into theater scenes, a truly wonderful and powerful relationship forms among the three women.
The constitutional lawyer Dániel Karsai, at the age of 45 was diagnosed with ALS, a disease uncurable by western medicine. The statistical time until death is 2-5 years but the total paralisis comes much earlier while all mental capacities function on 100% all time long. After a period of deep depression, Dániel found a purpose in life for the time that remains to him. Supported by his family, friends and colleagues, he lodged an application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg also with the higher mission of starting a meaningful dialogue in Hungary’s deeply-divided society around the painful and controversial issue of the legality of End-of-Life Decisions.
