History of the Film Archive
The Hungarian film archive was established in 1957 as the Színház- és Filmtudományi Intézet (Institute of Theatre and Film Science). Ever since that date – under various names, locations, concepts and funding bodies – it has gone about the work of protecting and making accessible the film heritage of Hungary.
Building
The main building in Budakeszi út 51/E was inaugurated in late 1976; architect: Mária Siklós.
Psyche
Three-part Director’s cut – Colour, drama, Hungary – Gábor Bódy, 1980 – Digital remastering supervised by István Hildebrand D.O.P. – Bonus features: Bódy’s vision of the video era, and a short feature contaning Psyché outtakes
Vuk
Hungarian animated feature film for children, 1981, directed by Attila Dargay, Digital remastering supervised by Irén Henrik D.O.P.. Bonus features: animated children’s short film; documentary clip about the making of the film.
Mattie, the Goose-Boy
Animated Hungarian feature film, 1977, directed by Attila Dargay – Digital remastering supervised by Irén Henrik D.O.P. – Bonus feature: animated short film; Film quiz.
Pom Pom Tales 2
Animated Hungarian film series, 1981-82, directed by Attila Dargay – 13 individual fairytales based on István Csukás stories and with Ferenc Sajdik drawings.
Pom Pom Tales 1
Animated Hungarian film series, 1981-82, directed by Attila Dargay – 13 individual fairytales based on István Csukás stories and with Ferenc Sajdik drawings.
That Lovely Green Grass
Hungarian colour youth film, 1979, directed by: György Palásthy – based on Éva Janikovszky's novel; bonus feature: animation etude.
Men and Banners
Hungarian historical adventure film, 1962, directed by: Zoltán Várkonyi – Bonus feature: Confessions about Várkonyi.
The Man with the Golden Touch
Hungarian colour adventure film, 1962, directed by Viktor Gertler – The third and most popular film adaptation of the novel – Bonus features: the corresponding scenes of the three versions in comics and in film excerpts.
The Witness
Hungarian colour comedy-drama, 1969, directed by Péter Bacsó – Bonus features: newsreels of the period, previously banned cut scenes, director's analysis.
The Corporal and the Others
Hungarian black and white comedy, 1965, directed by Márton Keleti – Bonus features with Imre Sinkovits and newsreels from the period.
Hyppolit, the Butler
Black and white Hungarian comedy, 1931, directed by István Székely with bonus feature.
From Lilies of the Valley to the Fall of Leaves
Hungarian colour nature documentary, 1953, directed by István Homoki-Nagy – The most popular Hungarian nature documentary ever – The bonus feature reveals the hardships of the making of nature films back then, and grants a look behind the scenes.
Sindbad
Hungarian colour drama romance, 1971, directed by Zoltán Huszárik – The most poetic Hungarian film of all times, winner of the public vote “Great Film”. Besides presenting Huszárik’s avant-garde short films, the bonus features also analyse the literary and musical background of Sindbad.
Zoltán Fábri Collected Works I.
Collection of five DVD's: Merry-Go-Round, Professor Hannibál, Anna, Two Half-Times in Hell, Bonus features. The first collection of the oeuvre series produced on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth contains the most extinguished early Fábri-classics made between 1955 and 1961, completely restored, and accompanied by a great number of both, contemporary and freshly produced,...
Pócspetri
Two-disc edition – Hungarian black and white documentary, directed by Judit Ember, 1983. In the bonus features she talks about the making of the film and about the background of the events.
Collected works of Attila Dargay
Collection of five DVDs. Besides the renewed versions of Attila Dargay‘s four feature-length movies, the extra disc of this edition offers a set of ultimate rarities, with a selection of 15 renewed short films and of 19 up till now unknown commercials, made between 1955-63, freshly recovered and renewed.
Somewhere in Europe
Two-disc edition with extraordinary bonus features and a booklet – black and white Hungarian drama, directed by Géza Radványi, 1947 – Extraordinary bonus features offered by the double disc: a 24-page publication and a feature-length portrait film recalling Géza Radványi’s whole career. – A look behind the scenes of re-mastering is provided – An interview with Ferenc Török, director of 1945,...
Silent films until 1930
In the first 30 years of film history, film reels turned in cinemas without sound. Across the world, this was a period of extreme dynamism and productivity, yet very little has survived from this first golden age. One can pin the blame for some of the destruction on the increasing interest in ‘talkies’ and a lack of film archives. In Hungary, around 600 feature films were produced in these...
Sound film era: 1931-1944
The second golden age of filmmaking was the interwar period, when film production was nowhere near as homogenous as film historians often suggest. Artistic periods followed one after the other, each faithfully reflecting the given historical transformations. In the wake of comedy hits typical of the early years, the genre of melodrama appeared almost simultaneously with the outbreak of war,...
State-owned film production: 1945-1988
Hungarian filmmaking became internationally acknowledged in the decades after World War II. During the period culminating in the collapse of socialism, artists of the old guard (Viktor Gertler, Frigyes Bán, Márton Keleti) worked in parallel with the new (Zoltán Fábri, Károly Makk, Miklós Jancsó, István Szabó), who not only brought a breath of fresh air but enriched Hungarian filmmaking with...
After the fall of socialism
The dropping of artistic traditions inherited from the age of socialism resulted in the same sort of fascinating and unique renewal of film language for Hungarian films as in other countries of Europe that shared our history. This is apparent in the diversity and soaring creativity of the ever-increasing number of works made over the years, bringing more recently new Oscars and widespread...
From the beginning until 1945
Not having access to television, people living in the first half of the 20th century relied on documentary films screened in cinemas as their window on events around the world. Demand for reliable and animated sources of information was so great that dedicated cinemas started up specialized in the genre. Films screened here and all moving images made with a non-fiction purpose in mind are...
State-owned film production: 1945-1988
The film production balance sheet of these four, largely non-video decades verges on the chaotic. Starting from the 1960s, a growing number of companies, ministries and educational institutions increasingly used film techniques that were ever more easy to access in order to facilitate their work and document their operations. Thus today, the Film Archive is not only responsible for processing...
After the fall of socialism
The 1990s witnessed the emergence not only of political new directions but a mass of technological innovations as well. High definition video became increasingly available, in the course of which it progressively forced out the old celluloid technology. Parallel with this development, the production conditions of documentaries fundamentally changed. Today, documentary films are made in...
Research
Research support, online and offline research options for the Film Archive collection; useful external links.
Licensing
Requests from educational and cultural institutes, festivals, film clubs, archives and TV broadcasters can be submitted for the use of film excerpts or screening of full films.
Festivals and sales
The Film Archive participates in the distribution abroad of the Hungarian film heritage and appearances at festivals. Our latest film catalogue contains a list of films restored as part of the programme that launched in 2017.
Viewing
Copies of films, videos and DVDs from the Film Archive collection can be watched in our Mediatheque. Students, researchers and everyone interested in Hungarian films are welcome.
Filmkultúra
The Archive’s film periodical has been published since 1960; until 1996 in print format, and from 1996 to the present day in online format. We keep a copy of every edition.
Moving Picture Gallery
An English-Hungarian multiplatform publication (1996-2008) and online database. The original aim of the project starting was to create a bilingual CD-ROM series on film history, but over the years an integrated online database has also been established.
