An exhibition celebrating the 120th anniversary of Hungarian cinema and showing relics of various eras has opened in Budapest’s Ludwig Museum.
“The exhibition presents a wonderful golden age with wonderful films, Hungarian artists and those born in Hungary making an international career, it showcases the Hungarian cinema universe,” Csaba Káel, the government commissioner for developing Hungary’s motion picture industry, told the opening on Wednesday evening.
The show Wide Angle guides the visitor through the past 120 years of Hungarian cinema starting from April 1901, when The Dance, the first Hungarian film was screened at the Urania Scientific Theatre in Budapest.
“The Dance was the first Hungarian film to contain staged scenes, originally produced as visual aid for a lecture of the history of dance. The scenes featuring Lujza Blaha and Sári Fedák, celebrated actresses at the time, were recorded on the Urania theatre’s rooftop,” Janka Barkóczi, a curator, told MTI. She noted that some 2,000 Hungarian feature-length films have been made altogether so far, 40 percent of which have been lost.
The exhibition features a rich collection of photos, posters, objects, filming equipment, moving images, costumes, original scripts, awards and text backgrounds, and also offers screenings.
The exhibition serves as an initial collection of a planned Hungarian motion picture museum, Káel said.
Featured photo by Zoltán Balogh/MTI
