You run a streaming platform dedicated to short films. What draws you so much to this specific format?
As an art form with distinct means of production and distribution, short-form moving image works often allow for greater thematic and formal freedom, enabling them to address social and political issues more directly. Moreover, historically, “short film” has been mobilised by experimental filmmakers and minority communities for radical ends. This added value of experimentation and topical relevance is distinctive to the medium, and it’s what makes me excited, keeps me focused, and engaged.
As a curator, what are the most important professional values for you?
It’s all about care: for the art form, for the people directly or indirectly involved, and the context in which a work is presented.
How do you watch a film as a jury member, a curator, and as a "regular" viewer? Are you able to separate these roles when watching a film just for pleasure?
There’s no separation, and I don’t feel the need to. I’m always watching a film as the same person, which means I can both critique, analyse, and enjoy it all at the same time. It’s what I do with that experience afterward, where the separation or different hats come in.
What are your expectations for this year’s Friss Hús Hungarian competition program?
I am super (!) excited to discover what contemporary Hungarian cinema has to offer. Given that the films we’re about to discover were still made under Orbán’s regime, I’m expecting dissent—whether hidden or on the nose. That’s what I hope for; it will give us all the more reason to celebrate now that he’s gone.