Hungarian film commissioner to Hollywood Reporter: ‘We have to take Central European stories more seriously’

In an interview to The Hollywood Reporter, Csaba Káel, the commissioner for promoting the Hungarian film industry, said “We have to take Central European stories more seriously … We have to tell stories about our lives.”

The National Film Institute, which replaced the National Film Fund in January, is responsible for coordinating the Hungarian film industry with a 54 million dollar annual budget, the Reporter said.

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Káel said in the interview that the country should focus on more stories addressing the life, history and culture of Hungary and central Europe.

The Hungarian film industry “hasn’t produced a good movie about the First World War, the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the 1989-1990 regime change or even about the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.

We’d like to change that and provide an opportunity for filmmakers to reflect on our history and national heroes on certain anniversaries,” Káel said.