Post Tagged with: "Film"

In Praise of Angela — Hungarian filmmaker’s short selected as among the best in Ohio

In Praise of Angela — Hungarian filmmaker’s short selected as among the best in Ohio

Last fall, I had the chance to travel to Athens, Ohio, to see the premiere screening of Edit Jakab’s short film In Praise of Angela. Many years ago, Edit and I taught at the same Hungarian Saturday school in Montreal. We reconnected just a few years ago and it was a pleasure to see the direction that life took her these […]

by · April 25, 2020 · Culture
Steven Bognar (left) and Julia Reichert with the Obamas

American-Hungarian filmmaker Steven Bognar wins Oscar for American Factory

American Factory is a highly praised American documentary directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert. It deservedly won an Academy Award this year in the documentary film category.  The film is about a Chinese company’s takeover of an old General Motors plant near Dayton, Ohio and the struggle of the American workers trying to adjust to the Chinese management. Steve […]

by · February 20, 2020 · Diaspora
Romantic lead with his regular co-star, the exotic beauty Merle Oberon.

Charles Korvin (Kárpáthy Korvin Géza) – the blacklisted Hungarian American film star

As part of our series on lesser known Hungarian Americans we introduce Hollywood star Charles Korvin. The very good looking Hungarian was a popular star of the screen in the 1940s. Géza Kárpáthy Korvin was born in 1907 in Pöstyén, Hungarian Kingdom (today Piešťany, Slovakia) in a Hungarian speaking family with a noble lineage. Géza was fascinated with photography and […]

by · May 2, 2019 · Culture
Eternal Winter is a film about the Gulag.

Hungarian film Eternal Winter blames President Roosevelt for the Gulag

Attila Szász is an exceptionally talented Hungarian film director. A couple of years ago I saw his film Demimonde (Félvilág) at the Tiburon Fim Festival and I found it intriguing. His latest film Eternal Winter (Örök tél) takes place at the end of World War II when many ethnic Germans were rounded up in Hungary and sent to labor camps […]

by · March 23, 2019 · Culture
Tarantino wearing the Cross with Hungarian film representative Béla Bunyik and his wife Bonnie.

Quentin Tarantino’s troubles and his Hungarian Knight’s Cross

The film director, Quentin Tarantino is in trouble. He is accused of negligence by actress Uma Thurman, who says that he bullied her into driving an unsafe car that crashed in the set of Bill Kill. She also says that he spit in her face and choked her with a chain. It is also alleged that he tried to strangle […]

by · February 20, 2018 · Culture
Béla Bunyik (in sunglasses) and Los Angeles Consul General of Hungary Mr. Tamás Széles.

The Post-Communist Mafia State at the Hungarian Film Festival in Los Angeles

Three years ago I wrote about a cherished Californian tradition; the Hungarian Film Festivals in Los Angeles and San Francisco. For many years these events were interesting and entertaining, and the organizers presented an array of films, features, documentaries and shorts. (Read here about past festivals.) The “father” of the Los Angeles Hungarian Film Festival is Béla Bunyik. He came […]

by · November 21, 2017 · Culture
Károly Makk

Remembering Károly Makk — Hungary loses a prominent film director

Károly Makk was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter of international stature, comparable to Miklós Jancsó or Péter Bacsó, who brought postwar Hungarian cinema to European and western audiences. Károly Makk died at age 92, on August 30th, 2017. At the time of his death, he served as the president of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and the Arts. Born […]

by · August 30, 2017 · Culture
Keep Quiet

Keep Quiet — A review of a poignant documentary on Csanád Szegedi

This month, I was invited to watch a private preview screening of the documentary Keep Quiet, which will have its Toronto premiere at the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation Festival on May 8, 2017. The film, directed by Joseph Martin and Sam Blair, focuses on the political coming of age of Jobbik and Hungarian Guard co-founder Csanád Szegedi–a young man who represented […]

by · April 18, 2017 · Culture
From left: Dorottya Hais (red dress), Dorka Gáspárfalvi and Zsófia Szamosi, with producer Anna Udvardy.  Director Kristóf Deák (with glasses) with music composer Ádám Balázs.

Hungarian short film Sing receives Oscar

I was in disbelief when my wife, who was watching the Oscars, told me that The American Academy of Motion Picture gave an Oscar to Hungarian short film Sing in the Live Action Short Film category. The 25-minute film was directed by 34-year old Kristóf Deák. It takes place in a Budapest school (Bakáts Téri Ének-Zenei Általános Iskola) in 1991 […]

by · February 27, 2017 · Culture
1968 - Zsa Zsa in Budapest at Klára Rotschild's Salon.

Zsa Zsa

Zsa Zsa Gábor, the Hungarian beauty whose many marriages, gossipy adventures and occasional legal scuffles kept her in tabloid headlines for decades, died Sunday in Bel Air, California. She was 99. Suzanne Moore writes in The Guardian that Zsa Zsa Gábor is not remembered for her film roles, which were minor, instead, she is being celebrated for being Zsa Zsa […]

by · December 21, 2016 · Culture