Dec 28, 2018

Watch the heart-stopping Hungarian animation masterpiece for free right now!

The Hungarian National Film Archive has made dozens of vintage animated shorts, commercials, and feature films available on its Vimeo page for a limited time. The collection will be available through the vacations and will go offline on January 4, 2019.

These films have recently been digitally restored by the archive, so even if you are one of the lucky few who have seen them before, chances are you have never enjoyed them in such pristine condition. Another bonus is that several of the films have English subtitles.

Among the feature films is János vitéz (Johnny Corncob), a 1973 film by Marcell Jankovics. It was the first animated feature film made in Hungary and was a warm-up for Fehérlófia (Son of the White Rabbit), which would later become his best-known work. To learn more about this film, read our interview with Jankovic from a few years ago.

Even more exciting is György Kovášnay's exhilarating and experimental 1979 film Habfürd. (Bubble Bath). The film is completely different, both in form and content, from any animated feature film ever made. [It subverts all the principles of traditional character animation and invents a unique and individual style of movement to tell its story. For example, can a character's drawing ever "deviate from the model" if there is no model to begin with? ...... To quote a bit from an earlier statement, "Kovashny understands the power of drawing to express a range of emotions and feelings that cannot be captured by a live-action camera. The film suggests new possibilities for symbolic acting in character animation and shows that animated characters are far more malleable than most Western filmmakers would dare to think."

The wealth of short films available on the Vimeo page represent a who's who of Hungarian animation, including Attila Dargay, Gyula Mashkács, Ferenc Lofsz, and István Bányi. These works represent a different approach to storytelling than that of Western filmmakers, and often contain rich metaphors and hidden meanings. Because filmmaking was controlled by the communist state, filmmakers had to keep their stories ambiguous in order to get around government censorship.

Visually, however, filmmakers were free to explore different graphic styles and techniques. Because films were supported by the state, there were no commercial imperatives and no need to adhere to safe, conventional styles. Thus, animators could experiment to their heart's content, and in the process, audiences were exposed to fantastic and fresh graphic images.

For a more detailed look at Hungarian animation in the 20th century, see the insightful essay by Zoltán Varga, which includes an overview of key figures in the history of animation and a discussion of some of the following works.

Just a few examples of works made available by the Hungarian National Film Archive:

Párbaj (Duel) by Gyula Macskássy, 1960: "A scientist tries to discover and use atomic energy for peaceful purposes and a Mars, the former wins the battle.

Variációk egy sárkányra (The Dragon Variations), 1967, directed by Attila Dargay.

"An Unusual Story" (Rendhagyó történetek), directed by Attila Dargay, 1967.

Sisyphus, directed by Marcell Yankovic, 1974.

Bab Film (dir. Otto Foky, 1975): "A strange creature visits a very strange planet and observes the lives of its inhabitants, the beans. The beans notice the creature's watchful eye and chase it away.

He, te. (Péter Shoboshley, 1976: "A film about the distorting effects of power and aggression. "

István Bányi's "Ham," 1977: "A tragedy of greed, or a drama of insatiability."

Ferenc Lofsch's "The Fly," 1980: "A sunny day in the life of a fly, told from the fly's point of view.

Mixed in with the shorts are many commercials like the one below. Lots to discover, and you only have a week to do it.