Negative history of Hungarian cinema

Calling the Shots

September 1988 •English

Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.

Binka: To Tell a Story About Silence

January 2007 •Bulgarian

A film pioneer, Binka Zhelyazkova was at the forefront of political cinema under Bulgaria's Communist dictatorship. Though she remained faithful to the communist ideals she became an avid critic of the regime and brought upon herself the wrath of its censorship. As a result four of her nine films were shelved and released to the public only after the fall of the regime in 1989, and Binka Zhelyazkova became known as the bad girl of Bulgarian cinema. A provocative portrait that reveals the pressures and complexities that arise when art is made under totalitarianism.

Message of Stones - Budapest

January 1994 •English

The first film in Miklós Jancsó's documentary series Message of Stones.

East-West Passage

February 2010 •Hungarian

In the summer of 1989 tens of thousands of tourists from communist East Germany came to Hungary. They were deeply disillusioned because they felt they had no future in East Germany. There was no freedom, no choice in the shops, salaries were low and they could not travel except to Eastern Europe. They wanted to go to a prosperous and free West Germany but they could not get passports, so they hoped that by travelling through Hungary, the least suppressed country of the Soviet Block, they could cross the Iron Curtain into Austria and then travel on into West Germany. For them the Hungary of twenty years ago was the new east-west passage. Written by Czes

Anthony Perkins, the Actor Behind the Door

September 2020 •French

Anthony Perkin’s face and name remain familiar to a younger 21st century audience, fond of Giallo and slashers. But he has long struggled in the shadow of his most famous character, Norman Bater – the seria killer in Alfred Hitschcock’s masterpiece, “Psycho". We also discover that he was an amazing crooner. His greatest success, “Moonlight Swim”, will be taken up by Elvis Presley. He even directed “Psycho III” – proof of his reconciliation with his favorite bogeyman.

John Ford Goes to War

January 2002 •English

When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."

Something's Coming: West Side Story

December 2021 •English

Incredible video behind-the-scenes with the stars, Steven Spielberg, and see one of the last interviews with the legendary Stephen Sondheim.

Martin Ťapák

January 2017 •Slovak

F. You All: The Uwe Boll Story

November 2018 •English

Honing his craft as an indie filmmaker in Germany in the early 90s, Uwe Boll never could have imagined the life that lay before him. From working with Oscar-winning actors and making films with US$60million budgets to having actors publicly disparage him and online petitions demanding he stop making films, Boll continued to work; he has a filmography of 32 features, a career that has led to his new life as a successful high-end restauranteur. Already a cult legend, he will be remembered forever in the film world; for some, as a modern-day Ed Wood, who made films so bad, they're good, while for others, a prolific filmmaker who came from a small town in Germany and never compromised his integrity while forging his own unique Hollywood trajectory.

Balaton retró

December 2007 •Hungarian

Scenes from holiday life at Lake Balaton in Hungary during the communism.

The Family

July 2016 •English

Anne Hamilton-Byrne was beautiful, charismatic and delusional. She was also incredibly dangerous. Convinced she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Hamilton-Byrne headed an apocalyptic sect called The Family, which was prominent in Melbourne from the 1960s through to the 1990s. With her husband Bill, she acquired numerous children – some through adoption scams, some born to cult members – and raised them as her own. Isolated from the outside world, the children were dressed in matching outfits, had identical dyed blonde hair, and were allegedly beaten, starved and injected with LSD. Taught that Hamilton-Byrne was both their mother and the messiah, the children were eventually rescued during a police raid in 1987, but their trauma had only just begun.

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade

July 2004 •English

An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the Western genre forever.

American Frontiers: Anthony Mann at Universal

November 2019 •English

An all-new documentary about filmmaker Anthony Mann and his time making films for Universal Studios in the 1950's.

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador: historias para recordar

May 2017 •Spanish

How the Uruguayan-Spanish actor, writer, producer and director Narciso «Chicho» Ibáñez Serrador changed forever the way of producing programs for Spanish television.

Narrow Path to Happiness

March 2023 •Hungarian

A young gay Romani couple from a remote village in Hungary has a dream so absurd that it seems impossible: making a musical film based on their lives.

We Called Him the Ugly King

January 1987 •Turkish

A mockumentary about Turkey-based Kurdish film director, scenarist, novelist, and actor Yilmaz Güney, shot three years after the filmmaker's death. It's also a political portrait of 20th century Turkey.

Věra Plívová-Šimková

May 2023 •Czech

Cinéma Laika

June 2023 •French

In the heart of the Finnish forest, the long-closed foundry of the little town of Karkkila has come back to life thanks to director Aki Kaurismäki and his creation of the town's first cinema. The peace and calm of the little town of Karkkila, nestled deep in the Finnish forest, is interrupted by unexpected sounds. In the abandoned foundry, noisy building work is taking place. Inside the building, Aki Kaurismäki is both builder and site manager of what is soon to become the Kino Laika cinema. The creation of the cinema is the talk of the town. In the factory still in activity, in a 1960s Cadillac, in a bikers' club, in the local pub, in the woods or in Aki Kaurismäki's former editing room, people start talking about cinema again.

They Survived Together

December 2021 •English

The Neiger family was living a peaceful life in the Jewish community in Krakow when the arrival of World War II changed their lives forever. When Nazi soldiers forced the family from their home into the harsh life of the Ghetto, they made a vow to escape as a family. But when circumstances forced the family to separate from older brother Ben, their will to survive was put to the test. They Survived Together" is the incredible, true story of one family as they desperately tried to stay alive... and together as a family with four small children, attempted to escape certain death at the hands of the Nazis. They are believed to be one of the only families to escape and survive as a family.

The Phantom Menace 20 Years Later

May 2019 •English

The Phantom Menace is now 20 years old. Star Wars fans have had mix feelings for this film since its release in 1999. This documentary covers the film's journey in the Star Wars fandom over the past 20 years. How do fans look at The Phantom Menace 20 years later?