Noticias

Film director who used powerful symbolism to depict the fight for Hungarian socialism and independence

At the 1966 Cannes film festival, a movie whose title sounded like a western – but was actually Hungarian – caused a sensation and launched its director into the international cinematic scene, where he was to remain for a decade. The film of hypnotic beauty and daring technique was The Round-Up (Szegénylegények, literally translated as The Outlaws) and the director was Miklós Jancsó, who has died aged 92.

Jancsó's highly personal style had blossomed in this, his fifth feature. The Round-Up is set on a bleak Hungarian plain in 1868, when Austro‑Hungarian troops tried to break the unity of the Hungarian partisans by torture, interrogations and killings. There is little dialogue as horsemen drive the people to and fro, with power continually changing hands. Jancsó's ritualistic style manages to make the particular Hungarian situation into a universal parable of evil,...

Moscow -- The Hungarian film industry expects an increase in providing services to foreign film crews shooting in the country, and a stable situation with co-productions this year, despite the global economic downturn. The situation with local film production, however, which depends heavily on state funding, remains uncertain.

"I'm quite positive that we are going to have a better year than last in terms of providing services," National Film Office director Miklos Taba said. "And the crisis could have a positive effect on the figures as (foreign) studios might want to save money, and for them it is cheaper to come here."

However, any increase would largely be due to the fact that last year was quite poor for the service sector. "In 2008, we had a big fall in the area of providing services to foreign crews," explained Taba.

"First, production was becoming more expensive due to the exchange rate.