THE Embassy of Hungary will present the second Hungarian Film Festival (HUFF 2.0), which will run from November 28 to December 2, in cooperation with the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Ayala Malls Cinemas.
HUFF 2.0 will screen six Hungarian films: from an Academy award-winning classic, to contemporary thrillers, comedies and animation films. The embassy said the film expo has something in store for everyone:
Budapest Noir, a detective thriller set in mid-1930s Budapest. A crime reporter thinks he has seen it all, when a tip leads him to an unusual crime scene and an investigation of a young girl’s murder that brings him to a world of pornographers, brothels and Communist cells, and eventually to the highest echelons of power.
In Ferenc Török’s drama 1945, a rural village prepares for the wedding of the town clerk’s son, when two strangers arrive at the train station. The villagers are afraid that survivors will return, posing a threat to the properties and possessions they have acquired during the war.
Lajkó, Gypsy in Space is a black comedy about the first living being in space, which was not actually a dog named Laika, but a Hungarian crop-sprayer by the name of Lajkó. In early 1957 the Soviet Union decided to give Hungary the honor of providing the first cosmonaut to orbit in space, and the most suitable candidate turns out to be none other than Lajkó, whose life as a pilot reflects his lifelong attraction to the stars.
Final Cut by György Pálfi is a “film like no other,” which tells the ultimate love story through the performances of hundreds of actors from the past hundred years of world cinema. “This is a film everyone will connect with, because we have all seen parts of it,” according to the organizers.
Animation film The Legend of King Solomon (dubbed in English) is an epic adventure of romance, magic and mayhem. Based on a popular folk legend in which animals, demons and humans meet, the film follows the adventures of the young King Solomon, the Arab Princess Nama and the African Queen of Sheba, as they struggle together against the King of Demons, Asmodeus, who is trying to seize their kingdoms.
With a special screening for the opening night on November 28, Mephisto gets the big screen treatment again in Manila. The Academy awarded-classic from 1981 shows a German stage actor who finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-World War II Germany. The popularity of his character supersedes his own existence until he finds that his best performance is keeping up appearances for his Nazi patrons. The film is presented in its original German language version, subtitled in English.
The screeenings are free-of-charge and subtitled in English, but viewers are advised to reserve seats at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas or via sureseats.com.