A new wave of Hungarian animation appeared a few years ago with two graduation films: ‘Rabbit and Deer’ (2013) by Péter Vácz, a stop-motion short about questions of the permeability of different dimensions; and ‘Symphony no. 42’ (2014) by Réka Bucsi, the absurd socio-critical short that was a huge success both at festivals and among audiences. ‘Rabbit and Deer’ has won over 120 awards from all over the world and ‘Symphony no. 42’ was shortlisted for the 87th Academy Awards. Since then, the spotlight has been on graduation films like ‘Limbo-Limbo Travel’ by Zsuzsanna Kreif and Borbála Zétényi, ‘Hugo Bumfeldt’ by Éva Katinka Bognár and ‘The Noise of Licking’ by Nadja Andrasev, as well as first films like ‘Superbia’ by Luca Tóth and ‘LOVE’, also by Réka Bucsi. They have been screened at several prestigious film festivals like Berlinale or Cannes.

Contemporary Hungarian animation is mostly defined by animators who have graduated from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest (MOME) who tell personal stories in a universal way or who experiment and push the limits of their imagination and technique. Let’s meet some of them!

Anna Katalin Lovrity’s MOME graduation film, ‘Volcano Island’ (2016), is a metaphorical story about sexual harassment between two tigers on an island, with a style resembling the digital cut-out techniques. ‘Volcano Island’ was selected into the Berlinale Generation Kplus programme last yeat and screened at several prestigious festivals since. After graduating in 2016 Lovrity participated in Animation Sans Frontières, the European animation production and marketing workshop. As she develops her next short, ‘Lemon and Marble’, a symbolic story about an aging mother and her daughter, she is also working as a freelance animator and illustrator, with clients that include Telekom Hungary, McDonald’s and Kékló.

Anna Katalin Lority: Volcano Island 

Péter Vácz finished his BFA and his MFA at MOME with ‘Rabbit and Deer’ (2013), which has been screened at more than 300 festivals in 63 countries, winning over 120 awards. In 2009 Vácz attended Animation Sans Frontières and took the Professional 3D Character Animation Course in Viborg, Denmark. Since 2013 he has been represented by the London-based Picasso Pictures production company, where he has made two award-winning music videos, ‘All I’m Saying’ and ‘Dear John’, for James, a British rock bandSince 2015 Vácz has been teaching and lecturing animation practice and theory alongside his own animation work. He is currently developing a stop-motion puppet animation Christmas-themed TV-special ‘Noah’s Tree’.

Luca Tóth received her BFA from MOME, after which she studied animation at the Royal College of Art in London. A frequent activist, she is also known for the political and satirical web-series called ‘Oligarchy’. Her graduation film, ‘The Age of Curious’ (2013), has received a number of awards including Jury Distinction at Annecy International Film Festival. ‘Superbia’ (2016) premiered at the Critics Week in Cannes. The short sarcastically and surreally reflects on the absurdity of many of our prevalent and often seemingly irrefutable views on gender roles as they have been passed down through the generations. Tóth has recently been developing her next short, co-produced by France’s Sacrebleu Productions.

Balázs Turai: The Fall of Rome

Balázs Turai studied animation and performance for two years at ERG St. Luc, Brussels, and obtained an MFA in animation from MOME with his dystopian and grotesque graduation film, ‘Mirikal’ (2012). As a freelance animator he created a political web-series called ‘Oligarchy’ and co-directed the mixed animation/live-action documentary, ‘Prisoners of Tales’. He is currently developing an animated series with Flóra Buda called ‘The Piracy of Princess Priceless’, which won the Best Pitch prize at the Visegrád Animation Forum in 2016. Turai recently completed his new short film, ‘The Fall of Rome’, co-production with Boddah and Croatia’s Adriatic Animation. The film is based on a comic he himself wrote.

Réka Bucsi received her BFA and her MFA at the animation department of MOME. Her absurd socio-critical graduation film, ‘Symphony no. 42’ (2014), was premiered at the 64th Berlinale and got shortlisted for the 87th Academy Awards. Her first independent film, ‘LOVE’, which was screened at the official shorts competition at Berlinale, SXSW, Sundance and Annecy, and was nominated for the European Film Awards in 2017, as well as being shortlisted for the César Awards in 2018. Her latest short, ‘Solar Walk’, was originally made as a 50-minute background animation for a musical performance by the Danish Aarhus Jazz Orchestra. It will have its world premiere at Berlinale Shorts – her third movie in competition. Read our interview with Réka about her new project, Solar Walk, here!

Bálint Gelley’s MOME graduation film, ‘Hearth’ (2012), was selected at several festivals like Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, Animateka, Fest Anca, Anim’Est and Hiroshima International Film Festival. In 2013 he participated in Animation Sans Frontières. In 2015 he founded the CUB Animation Studio with Bella Szederkényi in the incubation environment at MOME. The independent studio focuses on young talent, giving them a chance to realise their projects in a professional environment. Gelley currently directs an animated TV-series called ‘Door to Othertown’ based on a best-selling novel, and works as a producer on several projects like ‘The Gardener’ by Borbála Tompa and ‘The Hide and Seek King’ by Bella Szederkényi.

Bálint Gelley: Door to Othertown

Nadja Andrasev’s graduation film at MOME, ‘The Noise of Licking’ (2015), premiered at the Cinéfondation section in Cannes and won Third Prize. The short depicts an intimate and surreal relationship between a woman, a cat and her plants. It has been screened at several festivals like Sarajevo, Annecy, Animafest Zagreb and has won 14 awards, including the main prize at the Oscar-qualifying New Orleans Film Festival. Andrasev participated in the Animation Sans Frontières workshop in 2015 and was an artist in residence at the Open Workshop in Viborg, Denmark, where she developed her next short, ‘Symbiosis’, which is about a young wife who seeks to find her husband’s lovers to study them in a natural sciences approach.

Nándor Bera graduated from MOME in 2012 with his short entitled ‘Trees’, a trash film about looking for human relationships in a lifestyle that fuels hopelessness and unmotivation. He participated in the political web-series ‘Oligarchy’, which are satirical shorts about contemporary Hungarian politics. In 2012 he started to develop a TV series with Balázs Turai based on Voltaire’s greatest work, ‘Candide’, and on the legendary György Kovásznai’s idea from the 1980s. Adapted to the 21st century, the socio-critical and grotesque series was mainly directed by Zsuzsanna Kreif and Olivér Hegyi, except for the first two episodes which were directed by Bera. The series has screened at  Annecy and more festivals to come.

Zsuzsanna Kreif: Candide

Zsuzsanna Kreif finished her animation director studies at MOME in 2014. Her graduation film, ‘Limbo-Limbo Travel’ (2015), was made with Borbála Zétényi and was co-produced with France’s  Lardux Films. The surrealistic and satirical story is about eight women who each seek a male partner on a small island, at any cost. ‘Limbo-Limbo Travel’ has won several awards, including Silver Dragon at Krakow Film Festival, and has been screened at prestigious festivals like Sundance, Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand and Dok Leipzig. Currently she finishing directing the series ‘Candide’, a modern and grotesque adaptation of Voltaire’s classic. Besides animation projects she works as an illustrator and leads animation workshops for kids.

Éva Katinka Bognár received her MFA diploma at MOME in 2015. Her graduation film ‘Hugo Bumfeldt’ has won several awards, including the main prize at the Oscar-qualifying Austin Film Festival. During her studies she participated in numerous animation trainings and workshops in Denmark, France, Germany, Finland and Hungary, including Cartoon Springboard and Animation Sans Frontières. After graduating she started teaching at MOME. In 2015 Bognár won the Visegrád Animation Forum pitching competition with co-director Zsuzsanna Kreif for their project ‘Operation Burning Corset’, an absurd short about sufragettes. She is also deeply interested in interactive narratives and game design.

Zsófi Herczeg