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From Mátészalka to Hollywood: Legendary Tony Curtis’ Roots Celebrated

Hungary Today 2024.09.02.
Curtis with Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot (1959)

The Hungarian Hollywood Council, the municipality of Mátészalka (eastern Hungary) and ORIGO Studios Budapest, with the support of the National Film Institute, will organize the Tony Curtis International Film Festival in the Adolph Zukor Film Theater in Mátészalka between September 19 and 21, with Jill Curtis-Weber, the actor’s widow, as the guest of honor.

The Adolph Zukor Film Theater in Matészalka will once again host a major event this autumn, writes Magyar Nemzet. The Tony Curtis International Film Festival will take place between September 19 and 21 at the cinema. The event is organized in memory of Tony Curtis, a film star proud of his Mátészalka roots, who is distinguished by his Hungarian origin and Hollywood career, and with the declared aim of bringing together and discovering Hungarian and international film talent.

Fact

Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; 1925-2010) was an American actor with a career that spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films, in roles covering a wide range of genres.

Tony Curtis. Photo: Wikipedia

His parents were Jewish emigrants from Hungary: his father was born in Ópályi, near Mátészalka, and his mother was a native of Michalovce (Nagymihály), Slovakia. He spoke only Hungarian until the age of six, delaying his schooling. Curtis has been married six times and had six children of whom the best known is Jamie Lee Curtis, an American actress, producer.

The three-day, free festival will offer 55 films from 17 countries in three categories – documentary, short and feature.

In addition, it will feature a wide range of accompanying programs, host famous film personalities, organize the national final of the Hungarian Hollywood Competition, now in its eighth year, with student teams from 15 Hungarian and foreign towns, and host the Adolph Zukor Award ceremony.

Of the 55 films included in the official competition program, the so-called “finalists”, some thirty films, will be screened in two rooms in parallel: the Tony Curtis and Adolph Zukor rooms of the cinema will host screenings from morning to evening. Between the films, there will be panel discussions and audience meetings.

During the days of the festival, there will be an exhibition about two-time Academy Award-winner Dezső Guttmann, better known as Dave Gould, who was the dance director of MGM Studios, one of the world’s biggest film companies, and whose 125th birthday is this year.

Guests of honor at the festival will be actors Róbert Koltai, Iván Kamarás and Anikó Sáfár.

Information about the films in the competition program and the screening schedule, as well as talks, audience meetings and other events, can be found on the festival’s Facebook page.

Memorial for Hollywood Legends with Hungarian Roots Unveiled in Budapest
Memorial for Hollywood Legends with Hungarian Roots Unveiled in Budapest

The President of the Hungarian Hollywood Council, highlighted Hungary's deep-rooted connections with Hollywood.Continue reading

Magyar Nemzet; Featured image via Wikipedia


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