Müpa Film Club

110 Years of Hungarian Animation

Reality is a fine thing, but sometimes it’s even better to switch it off with the push of a button. Or simply by purchasing a cinema ticket. This series introduces the most free-spirited artists in the history of Hungarian animated film, ones who have helped millions of viewers around the world get a little closer to the realm of dreams, where neither the stubborn laws of physics nor the rules of grey everyday life operate in the familiar fashion!

In our selection, we have collected the works of major figures who have, through their unique artistic gifts, fundamentally defined the evolution of the genre and how viewers relate to animated films. Before anyone begins to scoff, these are not ‘just’ fairytales. They include a Cold War propaganda film amidst the escalating international situation, a depiction of the generational sense of the tough reality of inner-city life in the 1970s, a film that sounds the alarm about climate change, a social tableau about Budapest’s eighth district at the turn of the century, and a blockbuster from the present day that ventures back to the era after the fall of Communism.

And even with the fairytales, that’s not ‘all’ they are. There are works of total art, a culture trip that combines dance and the music of Kodály with psychedelic visions of an ancient Hungarian folk tale, a core public happiness-boosting film featuring geese, the worker dwarves of the eastern European Snow White, a history of art thriller with a noir bent, and a sci-fi movie containing a dried-out Lake Balaton.

In this Müpa Budapest series, you can encounter the films of the legendary greats of the animation genre and the unmissable artists of the present day, though the individual evenings promise even more besides. Our experts will hold an open discussion prior and after the screening so that you can learn plenty of new facts and behind-the-scenes secrets about these well-known works.