HUNGARIAN MASTERS – THREE FILMS BY ZOLTÁN FÁBRI, ISTVÁN GAÁL AND MIKLÓS JANCSÓ – issued on Blu Ray

HUNGARIAN MASTERS – THREE FILMS BY ZOLTÁN FÁBRI, ISTVÁN GAÁL AND MIKLÓS JANCSÓ (15) HUNGARY 1955-1970 BLU RAY £40.99
Presented from stunning new 4K restorations with a raft of extra features, the set features – Zoltán Fábri’s Merry-Go-Round (Körhinta, 1955); István Gaál’s Current (Sodrásban, 1963) and Miklós Jancsó’s Agnus Dei (Égi bárány, 1970)

MERRY-GO-ROUND (KÖRHINTA, 1955) –

A love story set against the rural backdrop of communist farming collectives, a young girl falls for farm worker Máté, but is betrothed by her domineering father to another man.
This pastoral take on Romeo and Juliet is a rich and achingly beautiful work, framed by the turbulent changes in society taking place at that time.

Voted by international critics as one of the ‘10 Best Hungarian Films of All Time’

CURRENT (SODRÁSBAN 1963) –

A group of young friends on the cusp of adulthood decide to spend one last idyllic day together by the river before they depart for jobs and university. When one of them goes missing, a frantic search begins – and recriminations ensue.

Often cited as the first film of the Hungarian New Wave, István Gaál’s haunting existential drama contemplates the transience of youth and the impermanence of memory. Echoing Antonioni’s L’Avventura and Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Current is a powerful and lyrical work that serves as a lament for a generation.

AGNUS DEI (ÉGI BÁRÁNY, 1970) –

The film explores political upheaval, oppression and the complicity of the Church, in this refined, complex allegory of the rise of fascism in Hungary. The dazzling Agnus Dei marks a transition from Jancsó’s more traditional narrative films of the 1960s, to the more experimental and provocative works of the 1970s.

In Hungarian with English subtitles

EXTRAS
Merry-Go-Round (Körhinta), Current (Sodrásban), and Agnus Dei (Égi bárány) presented from new 4K restorations by the National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive.

An archival interview with Miklós Jancsó (1987).

Award-winning Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó on the influence and cinematic legacy of Zoltán Fábri.

Tisza – Autumn Sketches (Tisza – Oszi vázlatok, 1962): István Gaál’s acclaimedshort film observing autumn descend along the river Tisza.

A new filmed appreciation of Current.

Merry-Go-Round 1955 screen tests.

A film on the restoration of Merry-Go-Round.

Trailers

Individual booklets with new writing on each film by writers and curators John Cunningham, Peter Hames and Tony Rayns.New and improved English subtitle translations.

World premieres on Blu-ray.

Region-free Blu-rays (A/B/C).

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Hungarian movie – ADOPTION – issued on Blu Ray

ADOPTION (15) 1975 HUNGARY MÉSZÁROS, MÁRTA BLU RAY £19.99
43-year-old Kata longs to have a child of her own. Rejected by her married lover, Kata looks into adoption, and befriends orphaned teenager Anna, herself determined to start a new life for herself.

In Hungarian with English subtitles

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

Adoption (Örökbefogadás, 1975) presented from a new director-approved 4K restoration created by the National Film Institute Film Archive, Hungary, and supervised by the film’s cinematographer Lajos Koltai

A new filmed introduction to the film by Márta Mészáros (2021)

A Conversation with Márta Mészáros (2009): an archival filmed interview with the director

Trailer

Booklet with new writing on the film by Carmen Gray

New and improved English subtitle translation

World premiere on Blu-ray

Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C)

Béla Tarr’s – SÁTÁNTANGÓ – available on Blu Ray

SÁTÁNTANGÓ (15) 1994 HUNGARY TARR,BELA BLU RAY ONLY £25.99
Epic drama following life in a small post-communist Hungarian village where nothing ever happens and nobody wants to be there. Adapted from the novel by László Krasznahorkai, the saga is presented through chapters looking at life from the viewpoint of each of the villagers, all of whom want to leave as soon as they receive a much-anticipated cash payment following the collapse of their plans for a collective farm
In Hungarian with English subtitles

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

Hungarian movie – SUNSET – out on Dvd

SUNSET (15) 2018 HUNGARY NEMES , LÁSZLÓ £15.99
1913, with war looming over Europe, Írisz Leiter travels from Trieste to Budapest to see the shop her late parents once owned.

While she is in Budapest, Írisz becomes aware that she has a brother and she sets out to find him.
In Hungarian with English subtitles

 

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

Hungarian sci-fi film – JUPITER’S MOON – out on dvd

JUPITER’S MOON (15) 2017 HUNGARY MUNDRUCZÓ , KORNÉL £12.99
Sci-fi film about a young Syrian refugee Aryan Dashni who is shot while illegally trying to cross into Hungary. In a refugee camp doctor Gabor Stern nurses Aryan back to health. However on recover Aryan discovers he possesses the power to levitate and fly, which Dr Stern decides to exploit. But all Aryan wants is to be reunited with his father.

In Hungarian with English subtitles.

DVD available to buy at

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

 

RUSSIAN/EASTERN EUROPEAN DVD-BLU RAY RELEASES FOR 2017

 

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

NEW EASTERN EUROPEAN CINEMA ON DVD

1941 – THE BATTLE OF TOBRUK (15) CZECH REPUBLIC/SLOVAKIA 2008 MARHOUL, VACLAV £9.99
Tense, unsentimental WWII drama in which two Czech recruits find themselves in North Africa helping out the allies.
BATTLE FOR MOSCOW (12) 2016 RUSSIA DRUZHININ,K /SHALOPA, A £15.99
Set in 1941 a group of Soviet soldiers as they put their lives on the line to protect the city of Moscow from advancing Nazi forces.
BUTCHER OF PRAGUE (15) 2001 CZECH REPUBLIC NIKOLAEV, PETR £14.99
On June 10, 1942, over 300 people, many of whom are children, where massacred in the Czech village of Lidice in Central Bohemia by Nazi soldiers in retaliation for the assassination of Nazi general Reinhard Heydrich . The film tells this harrowing story.
DEKALOG AND OTHER TELEVISION WORKS (15) 1998 POLAND KIESLOWSKI, KRZYSZTOF DUAL FORMAT BLU RAY/DVD £63.99
All ten episodes of the acclaimed Polish drama series ‘Dekalog’, revolving around the consequences arising from a breach of one of the Ten Commandments. Also included are all of Kieslowski’s television work, starting with his first professional short fiction film and continuing with four feature-length pieces.
EISENSTEIN IN GUANAJUATO (18) 2015 GREENAWAY, PETER DVD – £15.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
Set in Mexico in 1931 during the filming of ‘Que Viva Mexico!, the drama looks at Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein relationship with young actor Jorge Palomino y Cañedo.
THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN (U) 1962 CZECHOSLOVAKIA ZEMAN, KAREL DVD – £12.99 BLU RAY-£19.99
Fantasy based on the adventures of Baron Munchausen .
THE FENCER (PG) 2015 ESTONIA HÄRÖ, KLAUS £15.99
Set in 1953 Endel flees the secret police in Leningrad and moves to the small town of Haapsulu where he takes up a post as a PE teacher and starts teaching the kids to fence in defiance of the school head who wants the sport banned. To do this the head digs into Endel past.
GRADUATION (15) 2016 ROMANIA MUNGIU, CRISTIAN DVD – £15.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
Bright 18 year old student Eliza lives in a remote town in Transylvania. On the day before she is to sit her final exam to get a place at a prestigious British university, she is assaulted by a strange man near her school and loses her confidence. Her father, a doctor, must go against his principles and call in all the favours to help is daughter pass her exam.
GUARDIANS (12) 2017 RUSSIA ANDREASYAN, SARIK £9.99
Adventure film set during the Cold War, a group of superheroes known as the Patriots are put together to change the DNA of selected people to give them the powers to defend themselves against supernatural threats.
THE ICEBREAKER (15) 2016 RUSSIA KHOMERIKI, NIKOLAY £17.99
Action adventure based on true events about the icebreaker Mikhail Gromov which becomes trapped in the thick ice of the Antarctic Ocean.
LAST FAMILY (15) 2016 POLAND MATUSZYNSKI., JAN P £15.99
The film follows the ups and downs of dystopian surrealist painter Zdzislaw Beksinski , his wife and their neurotic suicidal son Tomasz.
MY 20TH CENTURY (15) HUNGARY 1989 ENYEDI, ILDIKÓ £12.99
Comedy drama about identical twin sisters Dóra and Lili who are adopted by two different families following the death of their mother. Years later Lili, a revolutionary planing a assassination, meets Z who then also comes across the other estranged twin.
THE PRESIDENT (15) GEORGIA 2014 MAKHMALBAF, MOHSEN (5055159278812) £15.99
Dark satire in which the people overthrown a despotic president of an unnamed country. Accompanied by his recently orphaned grandson, the president then travels the country disguises as a street musician in an attempt to avoid capture, but who begins to learn about the people he oppressed.
THE STUDENT (15) 2016 RUSSIA SEREBRENNIKOV, KIRILL £15.99
Troubled teenager and devout Christian convinces his conservative school principal to included creationism in biology lessons to the chagrin of the atheist teacher Elena.
TWO WOMEN (U) 2014 RUSSIAN GLAGOLEVA, VERA £15.99
Adaptation of Ivan Turgenev’s play. Rich married Natalya laments losing her allure as middle age approaches and finds herself increasingly jealous of her adopted daughter Vera youthful beauty.
UNITED STATES OF LOVE (18) 2016 POLAND WASILEWSKI, TOMASZ DVD – £15.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
1990s, with the decline of communism, four women who are trying to adapt to the changing times and their new-found freedom.
VIKING (15) 2016 RUSSIA KRAVCHUK, ANDREI £15.99
Set in the 10th century, young Viking prince Vladimir is exiled from the kingdom of Kievan Rus following the death of his father. In exile he assembles an army to overthrowing the tyrannical Yaropolk and returning power to the kingdom’s rightful heir.
WITCHHAMMER (15) 1970 CZECHOSLOVAKIA VÁVRA, OTAKAR DVD – £12.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
Set in 17th century Moravia, an old woman is accused of witchcraft and a judge is brought in to deal with the case and quickly begins accusing more of the local women of devil worship and sorcery
YOU CAN’T ESCAPE LITHUANIA (18) 2016 LITHUANIAN ZABARAUSKAS, ROMAS £15.99
Atfer murdering her mother, actress, Indre gets filmmaker Romas and his boyfriend Carlos will help her flee the country, but only on the condition that they film the escape to make an improvised experimental film.

 

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

 

 

Hungarian film – MY 20TH CENTURY – issued on dvd

MY 20TH CENTURY (15) 1989 ENYEDI, ILDIKÓ £12.99
Comedy drama about identical twin sisters Dóra and Lili who are adopted by two different families following the death of their mother. Years later Lili a revolutionary planing a assassination, meets Z who then also comes across the other estranged twin.

In Hungarian with English subtitles

DVDs available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

 

Miklós Jancsó’s -ELECTRA, MY LOVE – issued on dvd

ELECTRA, MY LOVE (15) 1974 HUNGRARY JANCSÓ, MIKLÓS £12.99
Many years after the death of her father Agamemnon, at the hands of the tyrant Aegisthus , oppressed Electra seeks revenge by inspiring the people to rebel against Aegisthus and end his cruel reign once and for all.

The film is seen as one of Miklós Jancsó’s finest works. Set amidst the open plains and grasslands of Hungary, and shot in twelve long, beautiful, intricately choreographed takes by cinematographer János Kende, it is a provocative call to arms against any system that rules without justice.

An expert in the symbolic expression of forbidden political ideas, Jancsó here radically reworks the ancient Greek myth as a philosophical reflection on the dialectics of power and oppression.

In Hungarian with English subtitles

DVD available to buy at –

www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-

 

Forgotten Hungarian masterpiece – PEOPLE OF THE MOUNTAINS – out on dvd

PEOPLE OF THE MOUNTAINS (15) 1942 HUNGARY SZÖTS, ISTVÁN £12.99
Forgotten masterpiece, filmed entirely on location in harsh conditions, tells the story of a woodcutter and his family who live high in mountains of Transylvania. Forced out of their home and enticed into a new work the families life begins to unravel one tragic misfortune after another.

Condemned as Communist propaganda, Szots’ debut was refused a distribution license by Joseph Goebbels the Nazi minister for Propaganda. Nevertheless the film went onto to win a prize at the 1942 Venice Film Festival and later cited as an early model for the post-war Italian Neorealism movement.
In Hungarian with Engish subtitles

DVD available to buy at –

www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

SPECIAL FEATURES

– People of the Mountains (1942) – presented from a brand new 2K digital restoration of the film from original nitrate image and sound negatives, supervised by the Hungarian National Digital Archive.

– Original Hungarian soundtrack in mono audio.

– New and improved English subtitle translation.

– Booklet featuring a new essay by author and Hungarian cinema expert John Cunningham

DETAILS:
Duration: 92 minutes
Language: Hungarian
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: 1.0 Mono (restored)
Discs: 1
B&W

 

Béla Tarr’s AUTUMN ALMANAC issued on dvd

AUTUMN ALMANAC (15) 1984 HUNGARY TARR, BÉLA £15.99
Set in a claustrophobic apartment, the film follows the interactions of five room-mates who live on the fringes of society. As they all try to get along and go about their daily lives, the flat’s inhabitants reveal their darkest secrets and fears to each other.

In Hungarian with English subtitles.

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd