Ádám Tősér’s Blokád, reviewed in detail by Hungarian Conservative, received the award for Best Feature Film at the Hungarian Film Festival in Veszprém.
The director of the film Heights and Depths, Sándor Csoma, was awarded as Best Director. The Best Debut Film award went to Noémi Veronika Szakonyi for her film Six Weeks. László Vitézy received the award for Best TV Film for his work titled The Singer at the Saturday evening gala held at the Petőfi Theatre in Veszprém, which was the closing event of the Hungarian Film Festival. Tibor Navracsics, Minister of Regional Development highlighted during the award ceremony that Veszprém, which is European Capital of Culture in 2023, is honoured to host the festival. He highlighted that the European Capital of Culture programme, as well as the Film Festival, aim to strengthen existing communities and create new ones.
Government Commissioner for the Development of the Hungarian Film Industry Csaba Káel stated that of the 200 films recently completed, 100 were included in the festival’s programme. He noted that the Hungarian film industry is working on a joint strategy with European partners to reach broader audiences, and emphasised the importance of promoting Hungarian and European films. Mr Káel underscored that through films, Hungary should showcase its own stories and heroes to Europe.
Acclaimed cinematographer Lajos Koltai, the president of this year’s jury, opined that being nominated at the film festival is as significant as winning the award itself. The other members of the jury were Katalin Bakos, editor-director and television professional; Kata Dobó, actress-film director; Ákos Pesti, film producer and production specialist; and János Vecsernyés, Balázs Béla Award-winning director-cinematographer. For the first time, the Danube Media Service Nonprofit Ltd. and MTVA presented the Huszárik Zoltán Award, which was received by film director Krisztina Goda.
This year, a student jury consisting of representatives from domestic art universities also presented an award for the first time. They considered Noémi Veronika Szakonyi’s film Six Weeks as the best, while the audience award went to the film Riviera East.
In the category of Best Actress, Emőke Pál from Heights and Depths and Katalin Román from Six Weeks shared the award. In the Best Actor category, Zoltán Seress was awarded for his performance in Blokád. The jury awarded Szabolcs Thuróczy the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in Larry, and Ildikó Tóth received the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Blokád. Among the cinematographers, András Nagy was recognised as the best for his work on Blokád. The jury chose Norbert Köbli as the Best Screenwriter, also for Blokád. Attila Tőzsér received the award for Best Sound Engineer for We Started Together, and Lőrinc Barabás was awarded Best Composer for the music of On Human Touch.
The Best Editor award went to Lili Makk for her work on Blokád and The Informant. The jury considered Imola Láng the Best Production Designer for The Informant, and posthumously awarded János Breckl the Best Costume award for his performance in Peace – Above Nations. The Best Makeup award went to Réka Görgényi for Blokád.
Gergely Hajnal received the award for Best Feature-Length Documentary for his work titled Rescuer (Szabadító). Among the short documentaries, Attila Szász’s film The Legend of the Gold Train won.
The award for Best Short Film was shared by the works Pragma by Bianka Szelestey and It will Never End by Barbara Somossy. The Best Animated Film award went to Toldi by Marcell Jankovics and Lajos Csákovics. In the category of Best TV Series, the jury awarded the prize to The Informant by Bálint Szentgyörgyi, Áron Mátyássy, and Bence Miklauzic.
The Hungarian Film Festival, jointly organised by the National Film Institute and Veszprém–Balaton 2023–European Capital of Culture programme, took place from 7 to 10 June in Veszprém, Balatonfüred, and Balatonalmádi.
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