Record Attendance On Sunday at Filmweek

03 February 2009

On Monday, seventh day of the Film Week the short film jury assessed the 30 films in competition on an open forum, while also giving practical advice to the competing filmmakers who were present at the discussion.

 

Gábor Balog, one of the jury members talked about how difficult the pre-selection was to narrow down the competition to 30 short films. But it was even more difficult for them, Balog went on, to select the films they would award. He said his decision was influenced mostly by his cinematographer background, judging the shorts by their photography. Lighting, composition and camera movement were key in his decision and from this perspective he narrowed down the 30 films in competition into three categories. ‘There were some films in which these ingredients were too intrusive, so I was aware of the camera and the crew working behind it, thus I couldn't enjoy the film itself', Balog explained. There were the films were the role of these elements were more proportionate, though sometimes going overboard, and there was the other extreme, the fixed position camera and its strengths. Sándor Cs. Nagy said that the competition was strong and he was striving to judge the films on the merit of what they wanted to give the audience, to what extent they have achieved this and with what kind of tools.

 

President of the short film jury György Pálos called the filmmakers attention to a distinct lack of objectivity. Apparently the directors mostly fail to call on the judgment of a critic or script editor for their projects, when with the help of such professionals most of the time the problems with length or bluntness in the story might be avoided. Another general issue with the shot films that often there are confusing images in them that are clearly there to fill a void - that of a proper image. Accompanying these images with a powerful score the images blend into an effective music video and it creates the illusion that the filmmaker is actually saying something. The use of music often becomes ostentatious, comes into the foreground as if it was trying to explain the story, added Gábor Balog.

 

Film director András Salamon, head of the documentary jury of the 40^th Hungarian Filmweek expressed his contentment over the multitude of sensitive projects in competition. Members of the jury agreed that the problems around the screenings of the films did not affect the quality of the screened films.

 

Beginning the review of the competition were some of the members of the pre-selection committee, László Babiczky, Rita Boronyák, Réka Pigniczky, István Pölöskey, and Klári Tóth speaking of their experiences. They complained of lack of time, owing to which they were forced to split the number of submitted films and none of them could watch all the films. They agreed that in coming years the organizers should give more time for the pre-selection process. They expressed their concern that the technical glitches abound during the first two days of the festival affected mainly the documentary screenings. György Szomjas in his speech apologized on behalf of the organizers to the docu filmmakers for these problems and urged the founding of a separate documentary festival for Hungarian projects. Renowned docu director Tibor Kocsis agreed and expressed his intention to found such a festival.

 

The pre-selection committe went to great lengths explaining the dropping of Gyula Nemes' Letűnt világ (Forgotten World) from competition, they pointed out that an earlier version of the film was already screened on a former Filmweek, and thus it became disqualified this year. Rita Boronyák asserted that the publicity the film gained from this controversy might even beneficial. Film producer György Durst disagreed with the committee and talked about how badly the docu films were treated in this year's festival and urged changes for the future. Several members in the audience mentioned the lack of meetings, roundtables and programmes aimed at documentary filmmakers.

 

Members of the pre-selection jury consider the docus made last year important signs of the times and deem it regrettable that televisions rarely put such projects in their prime time programming. Klára Tótk argued that most of the films in competition are not plain documentaries but creative docus with lots of fictional narrative elements and it made the work of both juries more difficult. András Salamon in his response pointed out that making a documentary is not a question of genre but methodology. Hence, looking at it from the point of view of genre makes no sense. Docus are just as subjective as fictional narratives so the use of feature filmmaking tools are valid. He also emphasized the importance of networking with international professionals.

 

Members of the jury, president András Salamon, journalist-filmmaker Réka Pigniczky and film director László Babiczky considered the number of films in competition much too large. Instead of the current 30 projects, they argued, 10-15 should be screened and it might entail bigger interest on behalf of the audiences while ensuring higher quality. All present agreed that the number of films in competition must be decreased drastically.

 

Réka Pigniczky emphasized the bold choices in subject matter, while she resented the fact that many projects were too insider, about and aimed at small groups of people. She added that many films do more than just documenting an issue, but with the use of creative narrative tools strive to achieve entertainment value similar to fictional feature films, thus appealing to wider audiences. Members of the jury agreed that there is a lack of creative communities reacting to current issues immediately and with spontaneity, the reason for this being is the financial support system.

 

According to András Salamon the main objective of the Filmweek is to present films to the audience in all categories so excluding the documentaries from the festival and screening them on a separate event would be a mistake as it would completely separate the docu industry from the audience.

 

Filmmaker András Sólyom, member of the festival council responsible for documentaries disagreed and called for the founding of the separate initiative to screen only non-fiction projects. Sólyom argues that on this festival every submitted film could be screened without any kind of pre-selection. There would be opportunities for professional debates and events, and the filmmakers themselves could vote for which ten films are worthy of national distribution and as such, get in competition of the Filmwek proper, competing in the same category as the fictional features. The director agreed that documentaries are indeed being pushed to the background at this Filmweek but also asserted that some films are of exceptionally high quality.

 

The nature-science jury also reviewed the 12 projects in competition at this year's Filmweek. Beyond discussing the films the debate also touched on the difficulties of the genre and the possibilities of promoting such projects.

 

Director of Uránia National Cinema Theatre Edit Bakos listed the main difficulties concerning the making and distribution of nature and science films. These projects, shown mostly on thematic cable channels on TV are especially hard to make owing to the lack of creative workshops specialized in the genre, thus there is no professional background for the production of such films. Main problem of course is the lack of funding as 83% of all production expenses come from the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Fund meaning that each project needs to have certain amount of funding already in place. Distribution is also a key issue as public broadcasters Duna and Hungarian Public Television should provide a secure basis for the screening of such films along with thematic nature cable channels like Spektrum, but it would also be beneficial if some of these films got into theatrical distribution to reach younger audiences more interested in commercial televisions. Hungarian nature and science projects, however, are less popular than their international counterparts like March of the Penguins, added the director. Without at least a minimal budget for advertising no films can be kept in theatrical release thus promotional events and scientific film festivals would also be necessary to succeed. Following this, the discussion were focused on the four categories of the films in competition; the historical, health, art and nature projects.

 

Zsolt Marcell Tóth, himself a science and nature filmmaker mentioned the difficulties of finding a subject matter. The filmmaker needs to consider the rules of television, as these projects are not primarily meant for cinema release, explained the member of the jury. Thus one of the key factors is the length of the film. Documentary projects are hard to sell these days, but within this the nature and science segment is quite popular around the world, argues Tóth, so there is a chance to make films of international quality. Tamás Andor, the third jury member shifted the focus of the discussion to finding the right balance between creating a documentary and a scientific film. There is a need for a more ambitious, to-the-point style of filmmaking reaching beyond the current issues and possessing a young, fresh approach, as these projects might grab the attention of a younger audience as well as the international market, hence promoting the genre itself - concluded the president of the jury.

 

Directors of the cultural organizations operating abroad with the support of the Balassi Institute reviewed their events related to film in 2008 in the Palace MOM cineplex. In their presentations Ildikó Takács, head of the Hungarian cultural institute in London and András Derdák, her counterpart in Paris explained that 18% of all programmes initiated by the network of cultural institutes was consisted of 400 film related events. Among these were film clubs and bigger thematic events. For these projects a total sum of HUF 80 million was allocated in 2008 by the programme fund of the Balassi Intitute for the 24 institutes.

 

One of the most significant events was Cinema Total in Berlin, a complex series of events to promote Hungarian cinema organized by head of the Berlin institute Can Togay and attracting a significant interest in its six weeks of running. András Derdák also mentioned two other important projects put on by the Hungarian cultural institute in Paris. One of them was the so-called Silent Cinema, whereby audiences could watch Hungarian films with headphones on, screened on the top of the institute. The other one was already in development last year, but only reached realization this year. It's called Danube Cinema, and it involves the screening of Eastern European art films made in the Visegrad countries in a screening hall specifically designed for this purpose. Ildikó Takács recalled the 4-day thematic film festival called Check the Gate in London where the latest award winning Hungarian films were screened. Takács also emphasized the role the Hungarian cultural institute in London plays in film distribution, mentioning last year's popular films Children of Glory, The man from London and Delta.

 

During the review of the year the extension of the network of cultural diplomacy was also mentioned. The Institute delegated cultural attachés to Tel Aviv and Beijing last year. In Israel a series of screenings called Fresh Fruit - Hungarian Film Days is just concluding one of these days, showing films by the young filmmaker generation. Meanwhile, in Beijing a documentary film was produced in China about Hungarian architect László Hudec, partly supported by the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Fund.

Hungarian producers and filmmakers were also invited for the presentation to encourage the discourse between industry professionals and the institutes. Producer György Durst emphasized that motion picture distribution is undergoing a shift in paradigm, so the institutes should consider founding a joint electronic archive where films could be uploaded in high resolution, so the screening of films in good visual quality would be ensured.

About their plans the directors of the cultural institutes asserted that events Cinema Total, Check the Gate and Silent Cinema will be continued this year. In Bucharest there will be an Hungarian animation filmfest in mid-February, while later a retrospective screening of Judit Elek's works will be held in the framework of the Jewish Festival.