Sándor Szakácsi

Documentary screenplay, based on letters and writings of the composer Béla Bartók. Musical works composed throughout his life are placed in context alongside the composer's writings from the time. Extracts from all his main works from 1900 to 1945 are included.

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The suburban school is totally bankrupt. When all hope collapses, Makkosi, a teacher resigned to the disappointing situation, and Annamari, a pretty French teacher, end up in a casino in Szentendre. They are surprised to discover that Makkosi can predict the winning numbers at roulette. The maths teacher is unimpressed and when her love seems to be on the wane, she puts all her eggs in one basket: to save her life, her love and her school. His mad plan is to multiply the school's meagre funds in the Monte Carlo casino.

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The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.

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The Christmas of 1944. The Pásztor family (father, mother, four daughters and a grandchild), are spending the holidays at their country farm. Péter, mothers apple of the eye, soon arrives, and has no objections when his soldiers uniform is made to disappear during the night. The Soviet army, arriving in the footsteps of the fleeing Hungarian army, is commandeering. At night, the soldiers turn up at the house where young women are abiding.

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1991, farewell in Budapest. Mária remembers the past in tears. Her husband, Tibor, a chemist and a target of the KGB, left their apartment one evening to fetch some cigarettes only to be found drowned in the shallow Lake Balaton the following day. Their son, Peter, a student in Western-Europe, was found dead on the Danube embankment.

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The lifelong friendship of Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich.

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1958. In the cell of the condemned, seven men await the signs of an approaching execution. All of them recall their pasts and envision their wish-dreams.

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Adapted for Hungarian TV. Dreamy Peer Gynt lives in a small Norwegian village high up in the mountains with his mother, Aase, and his grandfather. Peer Gynt's elderly father and grandfather have squandered everything, but the boy could still make the farm prosper with hard work if he wants to work, not just tell stories and hang around. Peer is living in a dream world, wanting to be king or emperor, running after his impossible visions without thinking. He could make a decent marriage with Ingrid, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, but he just dishonours her and runs away. Solvejg loves her with true love and then goes into the woods to hide, but Peer continues to run away to distant foreign lands...

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A young female interpreter meets her former great love, who now lives abroad and is married, yet she is completely convinced that there is still a chance for a fresh start.

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Inspired by García Lorca's stage poem, this is the story of a young woman who cannot realize her desire for self-realization either in the confines of her Andalusian village or in her relationship with her traditional husband.

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István, a király ("Stephen, the King") is a Hungarian rock opera written by Levente Szörényi (music) and János Bródy (lyrics), based on the life of Saint Stephen of Hungary. The storyline was based on the play Ezredforduló (Turn of the Millennium) by Miklós Boldizsár, who co-wrote the libretto. The opera was first staged in 1983 on an open-air stage in Budapest. This first performance was also made into a 1984 film, directed by Gábor Koltay, and its music released on an album. The musical became a smash hit and is still very popular in Hungary and among Hungarian minorities in neighboring countries.

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Via the New York Times: "The Hungarian director Gyula Gazdag has transposed the middle section of Balzac's "Lost Illusions" from Paris in the mid-19th century to the Budapest of 1968... it tells of Laszlo Sardi - Balzac's Lucien Chardon - and his efforts to launch his literary career amid the snobbery and sophistication of a big city."

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A country theatre wants to stage the historical play of the opposition author, who is famous abroad but it is well known, that he is fatally ill. The ministry unexpectedly bans the premier. The author is not informed about the decision and he wants - before his death - the costume rehearsal of the play. The director and his actors set up a false rehearsal at the price of a long night's tedious job.

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Barbara is a forty-year-old woman of Polish origin living in Budapest. She is a biologist, a wife and a mother. The death of her woman friend opens her eyes to the fact that she is lonely, unable to find her place.

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The relationship of István Kozár and his wife has reached the point where neither is prepared to hear even a single word from the other. The woman travels to the countryside because she needs a little time by herself. The next morning the police inform the man that his wife has died. István, who has fantasized on more than one occasion about strangling the woman, soon finds himself being investigated by detectives who expect a confession from him.

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Hungarian-born Laszlo Szabo returned to his native country to play the part of Dibusz in this comedy. When the residents of a large old house learn that it is to be torn down and that they will be relocated elsewhere, an intense game gets underway. As is usual in such instances, the residents will be given new apartments commensurate in size with their old ones. Dibusz sees this as an opportunity to temporarily enlarge his "assigned" space in the condemned building. He wants to be reassigned to an apartment which is larger than his current bathless one-room space. He and a neighbor cooperate to break down the walls that separate their spaces from that of an old woman who just died after a brief tussle. Still not satisfied, he tries to marry one of two spinster women who live together but is rejected. In the course of the film, he has intense encounters of one sort or another with anyone who might be of help to him in his quest.

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Adapted from István Csurka's play of the same name. Four men often get together in the evenings to play poker, big money is lost, often without any collateral. During heated arguments, it becomes clear during the break between playing cards that these people once had the opportunity to live differently. They were talented, but now they are neither on the right nor the left, and in their own words, they live in nihilism.

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Pocok is a seventh grader and the youngest member of his brother's gang. The gang of teenagers wants to buy a motorcycle. They borrow one while they collect the money. Pocok also wants to ride a motorcycle, but they won't let him. His brother and his friends commit a crime, and Pocok gets involved against his will.

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A "fusspot" material handler begins courting the daughter of a supposed "attaché". This leads to complications, but in the end everything is sorted out.

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