The Hungarian Motion Picture Festival has started, hosted by Veszprém, Balatonalmádi and Balatonfüred. The event is jointly organized by the National Film Institute and the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture program.

At the opening of the festival, Csaba Káel, the government commissioner responsible for the development of the Hungarian motion picture industry, emphasized that the aim of the event is to allow as many people as possible to see the films of the past two years. As he said, the fact that Hungarian film production is 120 years old and there are few countries where it goes back that long is a good prop for the festival. Csaba Káel emphasized: Budapest is currently the second base of European film production after London.

Tibor Navracsics, the government commissioner responsible for the implementation of the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 – EKF program, spoke about how Veszprém, after winning the title of European Capital of Culture in 2023, involved the entire region in the implementation of the series of programs, one of the most important goals of which is community building. According to him, several events, including the Hungarian Motion Picture Festival, will strengthen the region and the intertwining of the three locations, Veszprém, Balatonfüred and Balatonalmádi, until 2023 and beyond.

Gyula Porga, the mayor of Veszprém, recalled that in the summer of 1968, the film director Miklós Jancsó shot the film Bright Winds at the very location of the current opening, in the Veszprém castle. For twenty years, starting in the 1970s, the city hosted the TV meeting, which over the years became part of Veszprém's identity, he added.

After the opening, the festival began with the premiere of the romantic comedy Tuo ou szämpät, directed by Péter Varsics.

At the festival, 15 cinema films - including four premieres -, five TV films, 16 documentaries, 17 animated films, 26 short films and 5 cinema classics will be screened. The Hungarian Motion Picture Festival remembers Mari Törőcsik, who died this year; Gyula Déryné Maár will be seen, where is she? his 1975 film, in which Mari Törőcsik plays Déryne. Marcell Jankovics is remembered with the brave János.

In Veszprém, the castle, the Hangvilla, the Expresszó and the Agóra cultural center, in Balatonfüred on the Tagore Promenade, in the garden of the Vaszary villa and in the Balaton cinema, and in Balatonalmádi on the giant projector on the Wesselényi beach.

As an accompanying event, a professional and literary program will be held in the Vaszary villa in Balatonfüred
, and in addition to a theater performance, discussions and concerts - including Anima Sound System and Fran Palermo Akusztik - will await the public in Veszprém's Óváros tér. As the closing chord of the event, the Hungarian Film Academy will present the Hungarian Motion Picture Awards on June 26.

Following Origo
Image: MTI