László Najmányi

An Imperial Message is a 1975 Hungarian experimental film directed by László Najmányi. The 'story' was based on Franz Kafka's short story Eine kaiserliche Botschaft.

Legends circulate in the public consciousness about Kex, which existed from late 1968 to the autumn of 1971. For baby boomers, it represented freedom and spontaneity. The band rejected the world of Communist cultural policy with its uniqueness and refusal to conform, something in which the best of the artistic intelligentsia and political dissidents saw value. They attended their concerts, and the film recalls their experiences. At times, one feels as if they are watching a spy film parody, as one gains insight into the secret files containing reports from agents embedded within the audience.

The subject-matter of this comedy is age-old: that of the schizophrenic soul. Papa would have liked boy twins years ago, but her wife gave birth to a single child weighing six kilograms. He would like to dampen his feeling of emptiness by having the boy registered both as Péter and Pál.

According to Peter Brook, all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged is for a man to walk across an empty space whilst someone else is watching him. Thus, an empty space becomes a bare stage. However, this raises countless questions about the relationship between reality, everyday presence and role-playing, something experimental filmmakers coming from the 1970s world of theatre dealt with in detail. Tibor Hajas explored the topic in a short experimental film made at BBS.