To celebrate the Day of Hungarian Film, the National Film Institute has decided to make some of the best, unforgettable Hungarian comedies from the past 80 years available online for free, with subtitles. From today on, until May 10th, masterpieces such as ‘Hyppolit, the Butler,’ ‘The Witness,’ ‘Dollybirds,’ and ‘Moszkva Square,’ plus many others can be seen with English subtitles.
The Day of Hungarian Film has been celebrated on April 30th since 2018, to commemorate the first Hungarian film, The Dance (A táncz) directed by Béla Zsitkovszky, which was first shown on this spring day back in 1901. On this day, filmmakers of Hungary are celebrating the nearly 120 years of Hungarian films and the many talented filmmaker who have ensured the immortality of Hungarian movies and movie-making in Hungary through their work.
Last year, the Hungarian Film Day series featured more than 100 programs, including film screenings, conversations, audience meetings, and film music concerts. There were film programs nationwide in cinemas, film clubs, schools, libraries, cultural centers, even entertainment venues, also at Hungarian institutes, consulates, and embassies all over the world joined this enormously successful initiative.
However this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is not possible to hold such events with an audience present. But the celebration of Hungarian films is not canceled. The National Film Institute has decided that this year, to mark the day, they will conduct celebrations digitally.
On the Day of Hungarian Film, the institute is making 20 classic comedies including Hyppolit, the Butler (Hyppolit, a lakáj), Mickey Magnate (Mágnás Miska), the most viewed Hungarian film of all time, and Liliomfi available online for free from April 30th for 10 days. They will also release the cult film The Witness (A tanú) in a fully restored and digitalized version, Csinibaba (Dollybirds), one of the biggest box office hits of the 1990s, and Moszkva Square (Moszkva tér), a generational cult film from 2001.
NFI Film Archive experts have made their picks from different periods of Hungarian film history, selecting from outstanding Hungarian comedies of the past eight decades. Out of the 20 films, several can be seen online for the very first time. Beloved Hungarian comedians and legendary faces of Hungarian film also show themselves in this marvellous selection.
The classic Hungarian comedies listed below are available from today until May 10th on the following links with English subtitles:
featured photo: National Film Institute