The Fifth Seal

The Fifth Seal 1976

8.10

In 1944 Budapest, one of a group of four friends poses a hypothetical moral question to the others, an act that will unexpectedly alter their lives forever.

1976

Twilight

Twilight 1990

7.02

In the dense and murky woodlands of provincial Hungary, the search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession enshrouded by irresolution and despair, even long after he has been taken off the case. What emerges is not a crime story, but a harrowing venture through the darkness of the human soul.

1990

Abandoned

Abandoned 2001

6.20

Áron is a happy child in his family. But at some point things take a different turn, and his mother starts to lose her health rapidly. As this happens, the man in charge decides what's best for Áron without consulting the young boy's opinion, and the boy finds himself thrown out of his warm home into an orphanage in the woods. He's utterly displeased by what's happening, without knowing he has yet to face much worse...

2001

Peter and Paul

Peter and Paul 1978

6.00

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.

1978

Heavenly Hosts

Heavenly Hosts 1984

1

When hunting, Zrínyi Miklós finds an Angel with a broken wing. He takes him for a heavenly message and carries him to his castle for cure. Lords and priests come to Zrínyi's court, one after the other, to see Angel. The occasion is appropriate for the ban to win them over to his plan: they should unite their forces to fight for the country's independence.

1984

Time Stands Still

Time Stands Still 1982

6.50

A Budapest high school in the beginning of the 1960s. Dini suffers the torments of adolescence. His father had to leave Hungary after the uprise in 1956, and since then Dini's mother has had to take care of her two sons on her own. A friend of Dini’s father, Bodor, is released from prison and moves in with them. Dini and his brother are far from happy about this intrusion on their family life.

1982

Unruly Heyducks

Unruly Heyducks 1974

4.70

This film, set at the beginning of the 17th century, is the first East-European "Eastern". Bocskai István orders the free Heyducks to shepherd a huge herd of cattle through the country torn to three parts, to the Dalmatian coast, where he can get weapons in exchange, for fighting the Austrians.

1974

Diary for My Father and My Mother

Diary for My Father and My Mother 1990

6.20

This story follows a young student, who is orphaned as she grows to adulthood in the shadow of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. Coming from the Communist intelligentsia, she sees her friends and family react differently. Her lover, a married factory manager, supports the patriots and later assists fellow workers in staging a strike. Meanwhile her sister and others express anger at being forced from their homes during the revolution and continue to express a hatred for the rebels afterwards. But in the end they realize that for all people, real life is not possible after the revolt and its brutal suppression by the Soviets and their collaborators.

1990

Daughters of Fortune

Daughters of Fortune 1999

4.40

A story of a mother who had to change her profession from a teacher to a high class prostitute to make a living.

1999

Never, Nowhere, To No-One

Never, Nowhere, To No-One 1988

7.50

Vendel Imre is a driver, his wife is expecting a baby, they have two sons. Before 1945 Vendel was a military officer. In 1951 they receive a letter from the Ministry of Interior: they will be transported to a forced domicile, allowed to take 50 kg personal belongings per person with them.

1988

To See Naples and...

To See Naples and... 1972

1

Szegedi Anna, a lawyer having just arrived back from Naples wants to divorce his husband, also a lawyer, because since a hot night she has only been thinking of Laczkó, the handsome businessman.

1972

Tolerance

Tolerance 1986

1

The unskilled, jack-of-all-trades András and his wife, Éva are put in jail for serial work-place thefts, -committed in order to try to ensure a normal living standard for his family - and for aggravated assault committed for self-defence, respectively. Their two small children are put in state care, then given to foster parents. András, still in prison, commits everything to help the released Éva get hold of an apartment and get their children back so that when he will have served his term the family could be together again.

1986

Legato

Legato 1977

1

The university student couple, Andris and Mari, cross Nemesbérc during their summer vacation, to hasten the laying of a memorial stone to the memory of András's martyr father.

1977

When Joseph Returns

When Joseph Returns 1976

1

An unsentimental Hungarian film about the edgy relationship between a middle-aged woman and her young, restless daughter-in-law when the son-husband goes to sea for six months.

1976

Belated Full Moon

Belated Full Moon 1996

6.00

The story largely centers on a grandfather who finds himself deeply depressed by the dramatic downward turns Bulgarian society has taken. The changes of the past half century have created a deep communications gap between generations and he is unable to communicate with his troubled son. Nor is the old man able to do much to help his grandson who is making his first forays into criminal life, blaming it all on his mother who admits she is incapable of loving him. The grandfather tires of life with the bleak family and so goes to an old folks home. But that proves repressive, so he and a couple of friends leave to enact a money-making scheme. When that fails, the old man finds himself alone and destitute on the rough streets of Sofia where his despairing eyes witness the further ruination of his homeland.

1996

The Witman Boys

The Witman Boys 1997

5.20

Turn-of-the-century Hungary. Two young brothers, neglected by their cold and uncaring mother, descend deeper and deeper into psychosis, with tragic consequences.

1997

Paths of Death and Angels

Paths of Death and Angels 1991

6.80

Reviewers found this somewhat surreal film so visually stunning as to be worth watching even when it was not clear to them what was going on. In the story, Jozef Schrevek is a man with unusual powers which he wishes to pass on to his son before his death, which is coming soon. Unfortunately, his son is much more interested in boozing and womanizing and being a well-known habitué of nightclubs, than in taking his father seriously and receiving his powers and the responsibilities which come along with them. The tension between the two escalates when a young woman enters their lives.

1991

Innocent Assassins

Innocent Assassins 1973

7.50

Two arts students, András and Viktor who are writing their thesis on detective stories, make up a story and keep nagging the famous film-director, who just came back from Hollywood, until he undertakes the job. At night they work on the film, in which two youths kill a director returning from the US. In the morning the director is found dead - a knife in his back.

1973