Art House Cinemas Protest Funding Crisis in Hungary
BUDAPEST: Hungary is facing the closure of as many as half of its art house cinemas in the next year, following the government reduction in funding for film industry activities.…
Vajna Appointed to Top Hungarian Film Post
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán named Hungarian-born film producer Andrew G. Vajna as the government commissioner for the film industry starting from 18 January 2011. Vajna will hold the…
Glass Tiger 3 Finds Box Office Success
BUDAPEST: Glass Tiger 3, which opened in Hungarian cinemas in December 2010, sold 227,000 tickets in four weeks. A comedy is about a bunch of friends in the country trying…
FESTIVALS: Hungarian Film Week Considers April Date
BUDAPEST: The 2011 Hungarian Film Week (www.hungarianfilmweek.com) is planned for April in a new scaled down, low-budget version of the event. The HFW has traditionally held at the end of…
FNE 2010 Year in Review: Chaos in Hungary
Almost complete stoppage of Hungarian film production, blocking of all public funding for film production and distribution, the uncertain future (and possible postponement or cancellation) of Hungarian Film Week, total…
Crisis: Hungarian Government Cuts Funding to Hungarian Motion Picture Foundation. HFW Postponed
The Hungarian parliament has decided to dramatically cut funding for the Hungarian Motion Picture Foundation (MMK www.mmka.hu) in its 2011 budget. The move has also put the future of the…
Hungary Chooses Media Directors
Hungary's Public Media Foundation has announced the selection of four directors for the country's public media branches.The board of directors named Balazs Medveczky as general dirctor of Hungarian TV (www.mtv.hu)…
Hungarian Film Week Announce Funding Problems
Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary (MMK - http://english.mmka.hu/) announced that "it doesn't have the financial possibilities to organize the Hungarian Film Week" due to a hold on all funding…
Hungarian Filmmakers Protest Funding Cuts
Hungarian filmmakers published an open letter to the prime minister in an ongoing struggle over the future of film funding in Hungary. The letter, published on 16 November, urged the…
Hungarian Media Bill Could Limit TV Expansion
A new Hungarian media bill now being drafted would limit commercial TV corporations to a 35% share of the viewing market, according to a local news reports. Index.hu says a…
Hungary launches first on-line series
MAB, the first series created directly and only for internet broadcast in Hungary is set for launch (trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogInq8enG8I&feature=related). The project was initiated by Ádám Horgas, a director of alternative…
FNE Visegrad 2010: Coproductions in Hungary
Hungary has become one of Europe's international coproduction hubs over the past six years, following the passage of important legislation that set up a tax rebate system that allows producers…
FNE 2010 Visegrad Special: Hungary
Hungary began a transition in its film funding and administration system in 2010 which is expected to have a complete overhaul in 2011. FNE looks at the film and TV…
Government Plans Restructuring of Hungarian Film Financing System
The Hungarian government plans to restructure film funding in its 2011 budget, according to local news reports. Film financing, which is currently handled by the Hungarian Motion Picture Foundation (MMK,…
Run to Ground picked up for world sales
Vienna based EastWest Film Distribution has acquired sales rights to the Hungarian/UK film Run to Ground, an English language dark thriller shot in Hungary. The film is directed by Zsombor…
Applications are Open for Hungarian Film Week
Hungarian Film Week (http://www.hungarianfilmweek.com) has announced a call for applications through 15 November 2010. For the first time, animation films are also eligible to apply and are expected to be…
Digital TV on the Rise in Hungary
BUDAPEST: Digital TV subscriptions were poised to top 1.3 million at the end of August, according to a report from Hungary's National Media and Telecommunications Authority.
PRODUCTION: István Szabó shooting The Door
BUDAPEST: Oscar-winning Hungarian director István Szabó is mid-way through shooting a film based on the best-selling novel by Hungarian writer Magda Szabó, The Door with Academy Award winner Helen Mirren…
SPI Announces New Hungarian TV Channels
SPI International (www.spi.pl) will launch two new movie channels in Hungary, building on the Film Box label. FilmBox and FilmBox Plus will air 24/7.
PRODUCTION: Gödrös in Preproduction with The Beginning of Things
BUDAPEST: Hungarian director Frigyes Gödrös is in preproduction with a Hungarian-Cuban coproduction based on Cuban magical realist writer Alejo Carpentier's novella Viaje a la Semilla (The Beginning of Things).
