Cross the border, see what’s going on elsewhere in the world... cinema gives us a ticket to Budapest. One-way on board the Nova to the heart of central Europe. But before we get into details, we’d like to mention that our friends and neighbors at the Hungarian Culture Centre, who provide Brussels with exciting programming and are situated only a few hundred meters away from Nova, are preparing some surprises to accompany this third edition of Hungaro. But back to our journey... Budapest is somewhat of a diva, taking visitors by surprise. Baroque and pessimistic, overflowing with its blue Danube, where the winds of change gust and a beacon of light shines, its tumultuous but exalting history makes it a city as complex as its inhabitants.
Péter Forgács, our special guest for two evenings, will help us relive the intensity of the past through his films, poetry in sound and images. "Foreign Budapest", as the Hungarians refer to it, was occupied by the Turks and then by the Hapsburgs for several centuries. The Jewish population was the first to revive Hungarian as the daily idiom. Which might explain the specificity of their integration into the capital. The "Zsindónegyed", the Jewish quarter, is one of Budapest’s jewels, a lively and bubbling heart that never stopped beating, yet is threatened today by a frenzy of unregulated real estate interests. Anna Perczel, an urbanism specialist fighting to save this neighborhood, and with it the city’s cultural heritage, is the author of the book "Héritage non-protégé" ("Unprotected Heritage") and, combined with an array films, will give us more insight into these struggles.
Then we go from one minority to the next (don’t forget, we’re still in Eastern Europe), to those known as the gypsies, concentrated in a neighborhood that we’ll encounter through András Salamon’s film Városlakók (The people of the city). János Domokos’ film Kolorlokál, on the other hand, takes us into the world of Hungarian night owls by way of "Tilos" radio, the most famous community radio station in Hungary. Tilos has also concocted a special program for this event that will be retransmitted live in the Nova bar. And while we’re on the topic of music as a window to the soul of the city, we’ll give the band Csermanek Lakótelep the stage. Their deliciously melodic "Punk-Casio-Pop" will take us from the heart of the city to the underground frontier of the outskirts.
In the same vein, Miklós Erhardt, artist, cineaste-philosopher and Guy Debord enthusiast, will uncover the less prestigious layers of the city, with two films that focus on those living in the margins of society, the people the capital has left to their own devices.
This won’t be all, but there isn’t enough space here to be as thorough as we’d like to be. Another thing: do the names Miklós Jancsó, András Szirtes et the brothers Buharov mean anything to you? If you are Nova regulars then surely you’ve recognized them. They’re inescapable, and they’ve returned!
Hungaro #3... Egy Kettö Há! Budapest!
