We warmly invite you to a special book presentation, where you can discover the stories, backgrounds and authors behind two remarkable publications: Budapest Hollywood and Hungarian Documentary Filmmakers I.

An evening of literature, ideas and inspiring encounters.

The authors, Dr Tamás Kollarik and Dr Sándor Takó, will be present at the event.

Budapest Hollywood

"It is not enough to be Hungarian, you have to be talented too!" — According to legend, this was the message displayed on the office door of Adolph Zukor, the Hungarian-born founder of Paramount Pictures. According to the anecdotes, however, he would quietly add to the many fellow Hungarians who approached him seeking work: "...but it does help a little."

The volume Budapest/Hollywood presents the lives and careers of sixty outstanding Hungarian artists and professionals, exploring how Hungarian talent and creativity contributed to the rise of the Hollywood dream factory. They set out from Hungary and went on to achieve worldwide recognition in Hollywood. Their legacy remains proof that Hungarian talent has played an indispensable role in the history of world cinema.

The authors, Dr Tamás Takó and Dr Tamás Kollarik, are film professionals and university lecturers, as well as the creators of the Hungarians in Hollywood book series. For more than a decade, they have been researching Hungary’s cinematic heritage. Their latest work is a fitting tribute to all those who, while preserving their Hungarian roots, wrote their names into the golden pages of film history.

Hungarian Documentary Filmmakers I

Documentary film both preserves reality and becomes a historical document in its own right. It records human lives and stories, history, social changes and entire eras, while its creators reflect on the cultural, social and artistic questions of their time. Documentary film is therefore not merely a form of artistic expression, but also an important record of an era’s way of thinking, social relations and collective memory.

Hungarian Documentary Filmmakers I is the latest film-related publication of the Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, and forms part of the Documenta Artis book series, launched in 2017.

Dr Tamás Kollarik, the initiator, contributing author and editor of the Institute’s publications focusing on film and moving images, has been committed for many years to exploring and preserving Hungary’s cinematic heritage. His work includes not only the study of the legal, administrative and economic background of filmmaking, but also making the knowledge, experience and perspectives of leading creators from different fields accessible to a wider audience.

In the volume, twenty-three prominent Hungarian documentary filmmakers share their experiences and thoughts on the past, present and future of the genre. Their diverse perspectives offer a rich and multifaceted picture of Hungarian documentary filmmaking over the past decades, while also contributing to the preservation of the profession’s collective memory and intellectual heritage.

The book is more than a traditional collection of portraits: it is also a valuable source of film history and an important document of oral history. It represents another significant step in preserving and passing on professional knowledge, offering valuable insights not only to filmmakers, researchers and educators, but also to future generations of creators.

Join us!