VIDEO: Film of iconic Hungarian Gundel restaurant in TOP 3 at Santa Barbara Film Festival

The mini story is about how the Gundel experience can be for everyone, with traditionally good food, heartfelt hospitality and care. The short film has been awarded second prize at the Santa Barbara 3 Minute Short Film Festival in California.

Gundel restaurant’s short film praised in California

The short film festival, one of the most prestigious ones, celebrates the creativity and message of the films. Twelve productions from five countries were shortlisted in 2024. A short film of the iconic Gundel restaurant represented Hungary. The piece is about a girl waiting for his lover, sitting alone at a table but being served and celebrated with the help of sign language the crew of the restaurant learned prior.

The director of the short film “Gundel is for everyone!” focused on the restaurant’s commitment to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), conveying a message about the importance of inclusion.

Photo: FB/Gundel

Gundel is particularly proud to have an inclusive community that works day in, day out to make everyone feel welcome. This awareness has always been part of Gundel’s core values, and it also shapes the attitude of its current host team. While meeting the challenges of today’s world, we return to our roots with the same social awareness that characterised Károly Gundel. We want to be accessible and inclusive for everyone, they wrote on their website.

Gundel’s gift to the woman appearing in the film. Photo: Gundel Cafe Patisserie Restaurant Facebook

A very human story

They said the hearing and visually impaired can now experience the real Gundel experience in a deeper way. The waiters learnt the ten most important hospitality terms in Hungarian and international sign language. To serve the visually impaired even better, a Braille menu with the history of the food is available. In addition, accessible mobility is also a priority, Gundel wrote.

Film director Péter Bergendy said: the short film, made in collaboration with Gundel, is a very human story, which not only gives an insight into the operation of this special restaurant with a long history and a capacity for constant innovation, but also shows a beautiful example of caring for each other, which is a value that is increasingly being lost in today’s world. That is why it is important to remind ourselves again and again of how mindfulness is a simple act and yet what everyday miracles it can produce.

Below, you may watch how the Gundel team, film director Péter Bergendy, his creative team and the helpers worked on this short film to bring the Gundel experience closer to the people. It also shows how waiters learned the sign language to bring the Gundel experience closer to more people.

Photo: Press release/Gundel

They believe that with an initiative like they can be one step closer to fulfilling their mission! “The Gundel is ours. We will conquer the hearts of everyone with it. That’s how Gundel will be for EVERYONE!”

Click HERE and check out Gundel’s “Celebrity’s Menu Series”. We wrote about the unmissable experience of Gundel in THIS article.

The mission of the 3 Minute Film Festival

“We are the best little boutique film festival on an international platform, and located in the best place on earth — Santa Barbara, California, CA, USA. We seek, select and screen the most diverse and interesting films limited to the challenging 3 minutes of creativity”, they wrote on their website.

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