The Fifth Seal

The Fifth Seal 1976

8.00

In 1944 Budapest, one of a group of four friends poses a hypothetical moral question to the others, an act that will unexpectedly alter their lives forever.

1976

Twilight

Twilight 1990

7.00

In the dense and murky woodlands of provincial Hungary, the search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession enshrouded by irresolution and despair, even long after he has been taken off the case. What emerges is not a crime story, but a harrowing venture through the darkness of the human soul.

1990

Abandoned

Abandoned 2001

6.36

Áron is a happy child in his family. But at some point things take a different turn, and his mother starts to lose her health rapidly. As this happens, the man in charge decides what's best for Áron without consulting the young boy's opinion, and the boy finds himself thrown out of his warm home into an orphanage in the woods. He's utterly displeased by what's happening, without knowing he has yet to face much worse...

2001

Passion

Passion 1998

6.90

A woman and her lover plot to kill her older husband.

1998

Diary for My Father and My Mother

Diary for My Father and My Mother 1990

6.20

This story follows a young student, who is orphaned as she grows to adulthood in the shadow of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. Coming from the Communist intelligentsia, she sees her friends and family react differently. Her lover, a married factory manager, supports the patriots and later assists fellow workers in staging a strike. Meanwhile her sister and others express anger at being forced from their homes during the revolution and continue to express a hatred for the rebels afterwards. But in the end they realize that for all people, real life is not possible after the revolt and its brutal suppression by the Soviets and their collaborators.

1990

To See Naples and...

To See Naples and... 1972

1

Szegedi Anna, a lawyer having just arrived back from Naples wants to divorce his husband, also a lawyer, because since a hot night she has only been thinking of Laczkó, the handsome businessman.

1972

The Witman Boys

The Witman Boys 1997

5.20

Turn-of-the-century Hungary. Two young brothers, neglected by their cold and uncaring mother, descend deeper and deeper into psychosis, with tragic consequences.

1997

Daughters of Fortune

Daughters of Fortune 1999

4.40

A story of a mother who had to change her profession from a teacher to a high class prostitute to make a living.

1999

When Joseph Returns

When Joseph Returns 1976

1

An unsentimental Hungarian film about the edgy relationship between a middle-aged woman and her young, restless daughter-in-law when the son-husband goes to sea for six months.

1976

Nehéz kesztyük

Nehéz kesztyük 1957

1

Laci Ács the two-time Olympic champion boxer suffers his first defeat on an international tour that his coach was heavily against. After a tough period he starts working hard to get back into the ring, win back the coach's trust and win his third gold at the Olympics. Starring real three-time Olympic gold medalist boxing legend László Papp.

1957

Ruthless Times

Ruthless Times 1992

1

Hungary, end of World War II. Five Hungarian soldiers desert their troop which has been directed to Germany. They are escaping with the help of a stamp and unfilled travelling warrants, trying to survive until the war ends.

1992

Potteries

Potteries 1981

6.00

Andras (Zygmunt Malanowicz), an older man employed as a furniture designer, gets a life-jarring shock when he returns from a trip and finds that some of the work he developed has been given over to a younger employee. This instigates a mid-life crisis over his own identity and his sense of security and self-worth, all exacerbated by a recent divorce and estrangement from his son. Recognizing that he needs help, the man goes for therapy and starts to face his problems. Therapy counteracts some of the damage of living, and the man starts to consider his son, his relationships with women, and his father in a different light.

1981

Cantata

Cantata 1963

6.60

A young doctor undergoes a spiritual crisis when he returns to his rural home.

1963

Time Stands Still

Time Stands Still 1982

6.50

A Budapest high school in the beginning of the 1960s. Dini suffers the torments of adolescence. His father had to leave Hungary after the uprise in 1956, and since then Dini's mother has had to take care of her two sons on her own. A friend of Dini’s father, Bodor, is released from prison and moves in with them. Dini and his brother are far from happy about this intrusion on their family life.

1982

A Pianino in Mid-Air

A Pianino in Mid-Air 1976

5.00

Kicsi Dániel, the young virtuoso pianist gets a separate apartment in the ten-storey block of flats. He rehearses all the time, irregularly, day and night, disturbing thus the peace of the dwellers in the thin-walled house. Inquisition begins in the name of equal rights for inhabitants.

1976

Homo Novus

Homo Novus 1990

1

A divorced young math teacher is tormented by her high school students.

1990

Belated Full Moon

Belated Full Moon 1996

6.00

The story largely centers on a grandfather who finds himself deeply depressed by the dramatic downward turns Bulgarian society has taken. The changes of the past half century have created a deep communications gap between generations and he is unable to communicate with his troubled son. Nor is the old man able to do much to help his grandson who is making his first forays into criminal life, blaming it all on his mother who admits she is incapable of loving him. The grandfather tires of life with the bleak family and so goes to an old folks home. But that proves repressive, so he and a couple of friends leave to enact a money-making scheme. When that fails, the old man finds himself alone and destitute on the rough streets of Sofia where his despairing eyes witness the further ruination of his homeland.

1996

Heavenly Hosts

Heavenly Hosts 1984

1

When hunting, Zrínyi Miklós finds an Angel with a broken wing. He takes him for a heavenly message and carries him to his castle for cure. Lords and priests come to Zrínyi's court, one after the other, to see Angel. The occasion is appropriate for the ban to win them over to his plan: they should unite their forces to fight for the country's independence.

1984

25 Fireman's Street

25 Fireman's Street 1973

5.40

On one hot summer night, the residents of a Hungarian apartment house slated for demolition restlessly revisit their haunted pasts as they face an uncertain future. In a gently turning kaleidoscope of dream imagery, regret-laden nostalgia and painstakingly intimate detail, the looming wrecking ball pales in significance to the accumulated experiences each dreamer revisits. Pre-war prejudice, occupying Nazis and Stalinist deprivations all come and go as each tenant’s backward glance yields moments of aching sensuality, infectious exuberance and catastrophic loss.

1973