“We hold a national treasure in our hands,” said Marcell Jankovics on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Hungarian animation, and that statement has remained just as valid over the past 11 years. We could hardly find a single—even if broadly defined—characteristic to describe all the films made over 111 years. But if there is one thing that can be safely said about Hungarian animation from the beginning, it is that it has been committed to diversity. The collection of animated films growing since 1914 comprises the most colourful, most diverse area of Hungarian motion pictures. Everyone who creates, loves or knows Hungarian animation agrees with this. Long ago, in the decades called the golden age by many, this diversity unfolded in a spectacular way in Pannonia Studio, where artists of various styles not only worked together, but also influenced each other. Thanks to many generations and studios, a taste for experimentation in form, original style and Hungarian animation traditions were carried forward even beyond Pannonia—be it productions of Kecskemétfilm, animation in Pécs, MOME Anim or other studios.
Our selection, far from being an exhaustive collection, presents the cream of Hungarian animation from the sixties to today through 35 films. We picked from the works that clearly show that Hungarian animation not only attracts attention within our country, but does so across the globe—from Cannes to Oberhausen, Berlin to Chicago, Annecy to the Academy Awards, Ottawa to Hiroshima. It would be impossible to take a single emblematic image from the incredibly inspiring collection—Sisyphus rolling the boulder mesmerised the audience just as much as the subjective flight of a fly. The satire in the music hall presenting the dangers of armament was no less thought-provoking than the fate of the simple middle-class man standing helplessly in front of the paternoster. The dreamlike sand pictures left a deep impression on viewers just as much as the scenes conveyed through the movement of beans. The fox facing the universe, the maestro preparing for a performance, or the dragon stealing the Sun and the Moon are accompanied by countless unforgettable characters in the most successful shorts of Hungarian animation—compilations of which await their old and new fans in our screenings.
The KAFF team
