National Film Institute marks 120th anniversary of Hungarian film with host of programmes

The programmes will begin with the Day of Hungarian Film on April 30, the statement said. In July, NFI and the Budapest Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art will open an exhibition presenting the history of Hungarian film. The museum will also play host to film screenings, as will the Budapest Classic Film Marathon, the Valley of Arts festival in Kapolcs and film clubs across the country.

The NFI will also produce a 12 episode documentary series on the history of Hungarian cinema. In addition, the institute will promote 120 works of Hungarian cinema on Facebook over the course of the year.

The statement said one of the aims of the programmes celebrating the history of Hungarian film was to get younger generations to engage with quality media content.

Released on April 30, 1901, The Dance, the first professionally directed Hungarian film, was the collaborative work of cinematographer Bela Zsitkovszky and writer Gyula Pekar, the statement noted. The film itself, however, was lost over the years, and only still photographs remain.