Müpa Mozi, the film club of the Palace of Arts and the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA), continues to welcome sell-out audiences for its third season. This series of musical films beginning in February presents a selection of iconic screen gems containing the biggest Hungarian hit tunes of the past 50 years. Audiences will get to see their favourite stars perform in a broad variety of genres, from operetta to socialist-era road movie, and from straight musical to ret...ro parody. The casts feature everyone from János Sárdy to Zsuzsa Koncz, Hobo to the Latabár Brothers, Violetta Ferrari to János Gálvölgyi, Miklós Gábor to Hanna Honthy, and Imre Soós to “Bill the King”. The film club hosted by András Réz explores the source material behind the birth of hundreds of hit tunes, examining how the professional world of cabaret and operetta – inherited from the films of Gyula Kabos – was enriched by the social “workshops” of the 1950s: the factory, the swimming pool, and the sports field. Seen through a variety of filters in both period films and later satirical adaptations, we can discover how the naïve and love-struck, but ideologically ignorant, young worker was re-educated in the 1950s. During the lukewarm period of “goulash communism” in the 1960s, what role did the World Festival of Youth and Students and the TV talent show “Ki mit tud?” play in the emergence of beat groups such as Illés and singers such as Zsuzsa Koncz? How were iconic objects such as the Pacsirta radio set, noodles with grits or the Bambi soft drink – as well as socialism in general and its declaration of communal cooperation and ideals – portrayed in a musical film of the 1960s, or in a later retro satire from the 1990s? Why has György Ránki’s musical Egy szerelem három éjszakája (Three Nights of Love) remained a popular favourite almost continuously since its appearance in the 1960s? How is it possible to capture the feeling of blues-rock in the context of a documentary-style portrayal of the Kőbánya district of Budapest? And to the rhythm of which tune by the band Fonográf do we recall the emblematic image of the Zil truck grinding over the socialist asphalt having picked up a curly-haired blonde hitchhiker? “You have to go down with the dogs! Be the king of the dogs!” scream Hobo and Gyula “Bill” Deák at a concert in front of tens of thousands at the Tabán park in Budapest. This may also have been a strategy for bands of the contemporary underground scene to make their way up. In a pioneering work of Hungarian cinematic social commentary, György Szomjas uses pandering irony to portray the “happiest barrack”, in which cultural policy suppressed ideas and favoured the kitsch. How can Hobo and his band’s brand of Western-style rock ’n’ roll become Kőbánya blues? Today almost every moment of this twisted success story has assumed cult status. Hobbling along on his wooden crutch, Bill Deák passes abandoned Kőbánya houses and stone walls on which “BILL, THE KING” is scrawled – before falling flat on his face in a puddle. In a dog pound, the band leader Schuster finds a scruffy mutt to suit the band’s image, but in the end they still beat him up before the big concert because he fails to keep his promise to bring a television crew… This raw version of the blues immediately found an audience. The music was a big success, and Kopaszkutya made Hobo a star. However, an attempt to release the songs from the film on a record by the Hobo Blues Band was banned, and it was only 12 years later – after the change of political system – that the album hit the shelves.
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.