1. FATHER

One of the most lyrical films of the Hungarian New Wave, winner of numerous prizes, was made with the affection and intimacy of a Truffaut film. Budapest, the darkest years of the Stalinist era, and a young boy weaves a series of fantasies around his father who died in the war. The traumatic period of dictatorship is evoked through the experiences and emotions of the young boy and university student: Auschwitz, 1956, the contradictions of existing socialism. It is the story of the insecurity of a fatherless generation.

Produced by MAFILM 3. Játékfilmstúdió, Directed by Szabó István, Screenplay by Szabó István, Cast: Bálint András, Gábor Miklós, Tolnay Klári, Erdély Dániel, Sólyom Katalin, Ráthonyi Zsuzsa, Director of Photography: Sára Sándor, Music by Gustav Mahler, Gonda János, Sound by Pintér György, Costume Designer: Mialkovszky Erzsébet, Edited by Rózsa János, Head of the Studio: Herskó János, Photo: Szóvári Gyula

Language: Hungarian
Audio: 2.0
Black and White
Subtitle: English
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (1:33:1)
Running Time: 87’

2. CONFIDENCE

The film winning a Silver Bear in 1980 was the first of István Szabó’s works to be nominated for an Oscar. Set in autumn 1944, during the reign of the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross party, two complete strangers – a man and a woman – are locked up together in a small room. Here they are forced to live as husband and wife using forged documents for an indefinite time. Slowly the atmosphere of mutual mistrust is dispelled and they begin to find themselves attracted to each other.

Produced by Objektív Stúdió, Directed by Szabó István, Screenplay by Szabó István, Szántó Erika, Cast: Bánsági Ildikó, Andorai Péter, Bezerédi Zoltán, Halász Judit, Kishonti Ildikó, Dunai Tamás, Gombik Oszkárné, Csáki Károly, Director of Photography: Koltai Lajos, Music by Polgár Tibor, Sound by Fék György, Set designer: Romvári József, Costume Designer: Mátrai Teréz, Edited by Csákány Zsuzsa, Head of the Studio: Marx József, Photo: Jávor István

Language: Hungarian
Audio: 2.0
Colour
Subtitle: English
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (1.85:1)
Running Time: 102’

3. MEPHISTO

“Mephisto has led his country’s cinema from relative obscurity to its present position as one of the best and most innovative film industries in Europe.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 1982. This Oscar winner film based on the novel of the same title by Klaus Mann seeks an answer to the eternal Faustian question: how are personalities shaped by the pressure of history in Central Europe. The career of Hendrik Höfgen, the hugely talented albeit ingratiating actor, is flying high in Germany of the 1930s...

Produced by Objektív Stúdió, Manfred Durniok Für Film und Fernsehen, Directed by Szabó István, Writer: Klaus Mann, Screenplay by Szabó István, Dobai Péter, Cast: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Krystyna Janda, Bánsági Ildikó, Rolf Hoppe, Cserhalmi György, Andorai Péter, Karin Boyd, Christine Harbort, Director of Photography: Koltai Lajos, Music by Tamássy Zdenkó, Sound by Fék György, Set designer: Romvári József, Costume Designer: Gyarmathy Ágnes, Edited by Csákány Zsuzsa, Head of the Studio: Marx József, Produced by Manfred Durniok, Photo: B. Müller Magda

Language: Hungarian, German
Audio: 2.0
Colour
Subtitle: English, Hungarian
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (1.66:1)
Running Time: 140’

4. COLONEL REDL 

Colonel Redl won the Jury Prize at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Even as a child, Alfred Redl penned poems extolling the ruler; he is especially attracted to his aristocratic fellow student, the Hungarian Kristóf Kubinyi, and his sister Katalin. He wants to be like them; to do so, he erases his past and his family from his memory. The compulsion to forge a career and excessive humility result in him going along with power plays that end up sacrificing him as well…

Produced by Objektív Stúdió, Manfred Durniok Für Film und Fernsehen, ORF-ZDF, Directed by Szabó István, Writer: John Osborne, Egon Erwin Kisch, Robert Asprey, Screenplay by Szabó István, Dobai Péter, Cast: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Armin Mueller Stahl, Gudrun Landgrebe, Jan Niklas, Hans Christian Blech, Mensáros László, Bálint András, Gálffi László, Udvaros Dorottya, Eperjes Károly, Rátonyi Róbert, Svidrony Gábor, Director of Photography: Koltai Lajos, Music by Tamássy Zdenkó, Sound by Fék György, Set designer: Romvári József, Costume Designer: Peter Pabst, Edited by Csákány Zsuzsa, Head of the Studio: Marx József, Produced by Manfred Durniok, Photo: B. Müller Magda

Language: Hungarian
Audio: 2.0
Colour
Subtitle: English
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (1.66:1)
Running Time: 144’

5. HANUSSEN

The film set in Weimar Germany is based on the true story of Hermann Steinschneider. Klaus Schneider is injured in the First World War during the Battle of Piave. During treatment, Dr. Bettelheim discovers that his patient has very special clairvoyant powers and is an excellent hypnotist. But Captain Nowotny, former varieté manager, tempts the psychic into the German theatrical world, where – under the stage name Erik Jan Hanussen – he foretells the rise to power of Hitler…

Produced by Objektív Stúdió, CCC Filmkunst Berlin, ZDF, Directed by Szabó István, Screenplay by Szabó István, Dobai Péter, Cast: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Erland Josephson, Bánsági Ildikó, Eperjes Károly, Cserhalmi György, Grażyna Szapołowska, Walter Schmidinger, Jiří Adamíra, Adriana Biedrzyńska, Eszenyi Enikő, Director of Photography: Koltai Lajos, Music by Vukán György, Tamássy Zdenkó, Sound by: Fék György, Set designer: Romvári József, Costume Designer: Vágó Nelly, Edited by: Csákány Zsuzsa, Head of the Studio: Babarczy László Photo B. Müller Magda

Language: Hungarian
Audio: 2.0
Colour
Subtitle: English
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (1.66:1)
Running Time: 112’

6. TAKING SIDES 

This film based on the stage play by Ronald Harwood is a fascinating intellectual counterpart to Mephisto; it is like watching the continuation of the story of Hendrik Höfgen after the war… The film is based on real events. In post-war Berlin, the Allies set up a committee of enquiry to examine the case of the world-famous conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who stayed in Germany and conducted at major programmes of the Nazi dictatorship right up until its dying moments. The investigation is headed by American major Steven Arnold, who obstinately seeks evidence to prove the conductor’s guilt and why he served Nazi ideology through his work.

Produced by: MPP Paladin Production, Maecenas Film, Studio Babelsberg, Jeremy Isaac Production, Twanpix, Directed by Szabó István, Writer: Ronald Harwood, Screenplay by Ronald Harwood, Szabó István, Cast: Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgård, Birgit Minichmayr, Moritz Bleibtrau, Ulrich Tukur, Oleg Tabakov, Director of Photography: Koltai Lajos, Music by Anton Bruckner Sound by Brian Simmons, Set designer: Ken Adam, Costume Designer: Szakács Györgyi, Edited by Sylvie Landra, Produced by Yves Pasquier, Photo: Joseph Gallus Rittenberg

Language: English
Audio: English 5.1; Hungarian: 2.0
Colour
Subtitle: Hungarian
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (1.85:1)
Running Time: 105’

7. BONUS FEATURES

The director’s short films winning international awards, earlier and recently shot portraits, news reports and werk material all initiate us into the behind-the-scenes preparations and reception of Szabó films.

Directors on a String, JVP – MTV, 2008, 50’
Variations upon a theme, BBS, 1961, 10’
You, BBS, 1962, 10’
Hungarian Film Week. Father. Hungarian Newsreel 41/1967 1.24’
Dream about a House, Mafilm PS, 1971, 12’
Faces in the Light of History. István Szabó and Lajos Koltai on Confidence, MNF – Filmarchívum, 2019, 33’
István Szabó and Sándor Érdi on Mephisto, Stúdió’81, MTV, 7’
István Szabó receiving the award for best screenplay in Cannes, Stúdió’82, MTV, 0.28’
Klaus Maria Brandauer on the Set of Colonel Redl, MTV Newsreel 1983, 2’
Excerpts of the making of Colonel Redl, Mafilm, 1984, 5’
István Szabó and Endre Aczél on Hanussen, MTV Newsreel 1988, 2’
Thank you, István Szabó! MNF – Filmarchívum, 2018 3,05'

Published and distributed by the National Film Institute, 2020