The Hungarian Film Festival, organized by Bunyik Entertainment, in partnership with the Hungarian Film Union, is sponsored by The Consulate General of Hungary. Organizer Bela Bunyik is the President of Bunyik Entertainment, the pre-eminent distributor and online source for Hungarian films in the US. CHECK
At a press conference on Saturday, October 15th, 2011, Ambassador Balazs Bokor, Consul General of Hungary in Los Angeles and Bela Bunyik, President of Bunyik Entertainment announced the new platform for this ongoing annual festival of Hungarian film culture. President Bela Bunyik described the avant-garde step the festival has chosen for it’s eleventh edition: all its film entries can be seen on a special Global festival website
Ambassador Balazs Bokor underlined that presenting Hungarian cinema in Hollywood is an important task of cultural diplomacy. Ambassador Bokor presented Bela Bunyik with an important award CHECK recognizing his “relentless efforts to promote Hungarian Cinema In Hollywood.
Hungarian born Oscar winner, ASC Vilmos Zsigmond will receive the festival’s annual lifetime achievement award during a festive reception given by Ambassador Bokor. Other festival awards include The Michael Curtiz Award – named for the famous Hungarian born director. The Consulate General’s “Tony Curtis Award”, named for the Hungarian born star, will be given to the best film shown at the festival.
The festival opens on Wednesday, November 9 at the Laemmle Sunset Five with a 7:00 pm screening of Judit Elek’s “Retrace” and “Glass Tiger 3” by Peter Rudolf. Actress Kathleen Gati, the lead actress of “Retrace” will be present for a Q & A. Hungarian dance troop “4 For Dance” will perform in concert.
Thursday, November 10 the festival moves to the the Chaplin Theatre at the Hollywood Raleigh Studios, for a 7:00 pm screening of “Havasi–The Storm” followed by the Hungarian opera film “Bank ban” by Csaba Kael. The night offers treats for film and opera buffs alike. The stage production of Opera “Bank ban” was originally scheduled to play at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, this season but was postponed due to technical difficulties.
24 feature films and 10 documentary or short films are to be screened during the 9 days of the festival. The exclusive website of the festival at www.hufestival.com will open on Wednesday November 9th.
Opening NIght Screenings
“RETRACE” (“Visszatérés”)
Director: Elek Judit
Cast: Kathleen Gati, Philip Zandén, Demeter András, Sarah Clark Katherine, who, at seven, survived the Holocaust, visits her fatherland of Transylvania, Romania for the first time, traveling from Sweden with her family. She must face both happy and frightening memories of her forgotten past, as well as the depressing reality of Ceausescu’s communist dictatorship and the romance developing between her husband and her sister. Parallel to her story and simultaneously we get to know her childhood love and friend Sándor, who serves the dictator as a forester and whose story has a tragic ending. The film ends with the surprising and odd encounter of the two stories. Inspired by Marguerite DURAS (“Summer Night” / “Dix heures et demie du soir en été”) and Miklós MÉSZÖLY (“Chevaux Ailés “/ “Horses on Wings”) Festivals: 2011 – Moscow International Film Festival (in competition)
Wednesday, November 9 7:00 PM
TICKETS SOLD IN ADVANCE $10.00 Phone: 1 (818 ) 564-4090
“GLASS TIGER 3” (“Üvegtigris 3”)
Director: Péter Rudolf
Cast: Péter Rudolf , Gábor Reviczky , Sándor Gáspár , József Szarvas , Lajos Ottó Horváth , Imre Csuja , Iván Kamarás , Gerda Pikali
One toothpick, one shot, one disillusioned doctor and one luxury car, which arrives at the perfect moment. This is what it takes for Lali to make the biggest decision of his life: he leaves everything behind and steps off. In a spontaneous decision, the unexpected guest of the Glasstiger, Feri, the star lawyer stays in the train’s buffet car, while Lali drives away with the lawyer’s Bentley cabrio. Lali’s crazy day begins. The woman of his dreams takes notice of the car of his dreams. Acting like a fat cat, Lali wanders into the biggest adventure of his life. But what will happen when Lali turns out to not be a fat cat and the wife, the lover, the almost lover and the plumber meet each other? And what about Lali’s friends who come to his rescue?
The most successful Hungarian film of 2010/ http://www.uvegtigris.hu
Festivals:
2011 – Lagów International Film Festival
2011 – Palic International Film Festival