Through the cooperation of the Palace of Arts and the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA), this new series will present the finest works of legendary Hungarian film directors. The first half of the year sees digital screenings of a selection of ten films from the life’s oeuvre of Zoltán Fábri. Although the three-time Kossuth Prize-winner Zoltán Fábri occupied pride of place in the display case of Socialist cultural policy, his work as a film director (1952-1983) was de...fined by the banning of his screenplays, so that he conveyed his humanist message about the world, dictatorship and human relationships in a series of literary adaptations that reached an audience of millions. Although he was essentially not an innovator in terms of the language of film, few directors would have as many powerful sequences in a hypothetical reel of the great symbolic moments in modern Hungarian film – from the dramatic merry-go-round scene in Körhinta (1955) to the vacant building site in A Pál utcai fiúk (1968), and from the expressive stadium in Hannibál tanár úr (1956) to Zoltán Latinovits’s major absurdly packing boxes in Isten hozta, őrnagy úr (1969). In this story set in the autumn of 1953, Pataki decides to quit his farming cooperative and take control of his own fortunes together with Sándor Farkas, the farmer whom he intends his daughter to marry. Mari herself, however, loves Máté Bíró, who is dedicated to the new life of the cooperatives. The director described the work as “the story of a great love and a great rebellion”. Deviating sharply from its literary source, the screenplay came under attack from the central dramaturgy department and cultural authorities of the time for presenting a “banal, bourgeois Romeo and Juliet story” which failed to sufficiently validate “the truth of the new life inside cooperatives”. Even amid such difficult circumstances, Zoltán Fábri was able to apply his elemental energy and naturalism in melding elements of personal fate, within a social context portrayed through the accurate sociographical reality of mud and potholes, with the transcendent lyricism of a love story – and to thus set the moral strength of inner freedom and the pursuit of happiness against the patriarchal reality of “land marries land” espoused by the older generation. Fábri’s outstanding empathy with actors is apparent in the performances of the cast. Discovered when still a college student, Mari Törőcsik exudes little-girl charm, purity and dignified beauty as she swoops joyfully on the merry-go-round, a performance complemented by the glowing defiance of Imre Soós, the pent-up impulsiveness of Ádám Szirtes as he seizes axe or glass, and the stern obduracy of Béla Barsi. Fábri could not have created his vision, adapted in a uniquely Hungarian context, from Citizen Kane, French lyrical realism and Italian neo-realism, without the expressive lighting and framing of the cinematographer Barnabás Hegyi, which is most apparent in the merry-go-round and dance scenes, the wedding procession and the compelling, pure beauty of the axe montages. Following István Szőts’s Emberek a havason (Men on the Mountain, 1942) and Géza Radványi’s Valahol Európában (Somewhere in Europe, 1947), the world was able to marvel at Hungarian film for the third time. After the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, a then very young journalist named François Truffaut went against the jury’s decision in declaring: “This is the big prize winner, this is my Palme d’Or.” Presented by: Palace of Arts
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.
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