Hungarian Film Week 2011 cancelled

by Fabien Lemercier

09/12/2010 - An annual showcase of the best of Hungarian production, the 42nd Hungarian Film Week, which was set to be held at the start of February 2011 in Budapest, has been cancelled due to the serious financial problems (see news) affecting the event’s organiser, the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary (MMKA). The event could be postponed until late April, but in the turmoil currently hitting the entire Hungarian film industry, this looks far from certain.

This decision was taken following Parliament’s vote on the 2011 budget. In the middle of a crisis and faced with a colossal deficit, the MMKA was credited with only €3.6m.

The government, which wants to regain the upper hand over the management of film funding, has therefore allocated €7.2m to the Ministry of National Development and €2.88m to the Ministry of National Resources. But there is great uncertainty about the practical terms of redistributing funding to a Hungarian film industry where almost all projects are blocked in pre-production.

(Translated from French)