The program started in the early afternoon, so those who had missed last year’s best of Friss Hús or one of this year’s competition blocks could quickly catch up on the films they missed. Then came the first industry program, the highly popular annual In Short – Briefly? (Röviden – tömören?), held by the legendary ELTE professor, Dr. András Bálint Kovács (or as many know him, KAB). This time, the analyzed piece was Bálint Kenyeres's film The Spectacle, which competed both in Cannes and at Friss Hús last year. At the beginning of the lecture, KAB noted that due to the Champions League final, he didn't think so many people would be curious about the program, but fortunately, the audience in the Metropolis hall was indeed large. The lecture then focused mostly on how to interpret a film in which the important changes do not happen on the surface. The scene-by-scene analysis in this program is truly not just a marketing gimmick; we really examined the work shot-by-shot, and in the end, it was revealed how a seemingly passive character can actually be very active.
This was followed by the roundtable discussion titled Roots to Reach - When Local Stories Go Global, in which Dániel Deák talked with our jury members Benoit Berthe Siward, Anna Szíjártó, and Dave Taylor Matthews. During the roundtable, practical questions were raised, such as what language is worth filming in if someone wants to step out onto the international stage, what changes the emergence of streaming has brought, and what examples and counterexamples exist regarding whether it is worth making a feature film out of a short film. It was refreshing to see how actively the audience participated in the dialogue, asking highly constructive questions.
One of the most exciting industry programs also took place on Saturday: in Unnatural Selection (Természetellenes szelekció), several versions of a scene were created live based on instructions from casting director Kata Bartsch, starring the Friss Csillagok ("Fresh Stars"), Irma Major and Vince Juhász. It was exciting to see how the exact same scene transformed right before the audience's eyes with alternating casts and live suggestions. The program also allowed the audience to get to know the Fresh Stars a bit better. Both of them are from the countryside, graduated from Sándor Zsótér’s class at SZFE (University of Theatre and Film Arts), and it also turned out that they really like rice.
Among the films, alongside the Hungarian and international competition programs, the first Glitches screening concluded with great success, and we also saw the first section of the always special Queer Dreams. Sunday brings the second one, the most exciting British films can be watched again, and from our industry programs, we warmly recommend the special Ready, Set, Score - Live Film Scoring.
Many of our programs are approaching a full house, so it is worth getting your tickets!