Friss Hús Short Film Festival lasts until Wednesday in Toldi Cinema, and we continue our interview series made with directors with Eastern European affiliations. We asked them the same questions: what they would like to do in the Hungarian capital and which movies influenced them the most.
Ducki Tomek
Ducki Tomek of Hungarian and Polish roots was raised in Budapest: the animation director is bound to Budapest with various ties, including his family, his friends and his old alma mater, the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design—this is why he regrets it so much that he can’t attend Friss Hús this time. His diploma movie “Life Line” made in 2006 won more than twenty awards at prestigious European film festivals from Leipzig to Poznan. Now he’s delighting us with a 7-minute short titled “Plantarium”.
What was your most important or most inspiring film experience in your childhood or in the recent past?
I could talk about this for hours. There is, however, one filmmaker, whose films I always return to: Julian Antonisz, a Kraków-based animation artist who created the most in the seventies. He built machines suitable for making animations—which drew images directly on the movie tape—and on top, he even wrote and played the music for his creations. His absurd and incredibly expressive short films presented the political era’s propensity for educating the public, while his visuality is full of humor, even in the very abstract parts. His films are full of emotion and love, resulting in an odd, iconic fusion. Among Hungarian directors I could perhaps compare him to György Kovásznai. My favorite Antonisz-film is „Jak działa jamniczek” (How A Sausage Dog Works).
Tomasz Wiński
Tomasz was born in Poland in 1979, and he studied film direction at the Film and TV Academy in Prague (FAMU). In his short film on screen at Friss Hús Festival, we can watch the story of Anna and Lizzie who share a flat with George—a tax consultant who thinks he is a dog.
Have you ever been to Budapest before?
I haven’t been to Budapest. If I would go there, I would probably be in the cinema all the time watching great movies.
What was your most important or most inspiring film experience in your childhood or in the recent past?
I don’t remember films I watched in my childhood… My recent most important and inspiring film experience was writing, directing and producing my short film „George the dog, refugee” and my feature debut „Images of Love”. For me there is nothing more inspiring than making your own films.
Adam Koloman Rybanský
Currently he is doing his master’s degree at the FAMU in Prague. His student short films ”The Friendly Sport Meeting” and ”Home Sleep Home”, which will be screened at Friss Hús Festival, were nominated for the Magnesia Award for the Best Czech Student Film. He works mainly with non-actors, he is interested in common people and various forms of racism.
Have you ever been to Budapest before?
My first and only time in Budapest was during shooting ”Home Sleep Home.” We went from Prague to Budapest with a small film crew for one shot in front of Keleti train station. It was really just one static shot and it looks like it was made in front of a green screen but it isn’t. It wasn’t ecological and economical but it was important for the trueness of the journey in the movie. We didn’t have time to see anything in the city but at least we got Szegedin goulash for lunch.
What was your most important or most inspiring film experience in your childhood or in the recent past?
Definitely all Czechoslovak Miloš Forman films. I was maybe thirteen or fourteen years old when I watched ”Loves of Blonde” for the first time and I absolutely fell in love with this type of cinema. It is still my number one.
Áron Horváth Botka
Áron was born in Slovenia, where he studied visual arts for three years, then got closer to filmmaking at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. In his short film “Bits” screened at Friss Hús, we get to see Hungarian actor Zsolt Nagy as well.
Have you been to Budapest? If yes, what memories do you have of the city?
Yes, but I don’t really remember the first time, because I was very little. I know that we ate hamburgers and then—as my mom often likes to tell it—in the evening I got really scared and I simply couldn’t stop crying. I have a lot of lovely memories about Sziget Festival and the Iron Maiden concerts though. In 2018, my girlfriend Ina and I spent a few carefree days in the city: we moved from hotel to hotel and spent hours on the terrace of Kis Sarok. The last time I visited Budapest was in 2019—that’s when I met Zsolt Nagy. I love this city the most in the summer.
What was your most important or most inspiring film experience in your childhood or in the recent past?
Films have always been a part of my life: back in my childhood, I always watched cartoons, folk tales and Chaplin movies. I always had a latest favorite which I watched almost every day. During one summer break I started each and every day with watching “Batman Returns.” My friends and I also adored Jackie Chan. But the film that indeed opened a door to the world of films to me was “Kill Bill”. Through Tarantino I got to know the French new wave, Asian cinema, the classics and the B movies of the seventies, too. It was thanks to him that I started to understand what film actually means.
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