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HUNGARY

Bánk Bán- Csaba Kael
A new film version of Ferenc Erkel's famous historical opera about medieval court intrigues, Bánk Bán was shot by the great Hungarian cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond, who used numerous spectacular locations and only one studio set. In the year 1213, Hungary's King Endre II is waging war abroad. At home, his queen, Gertrud, a foreigner, has seized power, and heaps privileges on her Meranian countrymen. Nobleman Petur Bán wants to lead a Magyar rebellion against the Meranians, but his brother Bánk, a high-ranking courtier, feels loyalty to the King. But when Bánk learns that Endre's evil brother Otto wants to seduce his wife Melinda, he joins the uprising. A cast of world famous Hungarian opera stars does justice to this great patriotic epic. The score is performed under the baton of Tamas Pal who draws an enthralling performance from the Hungarian Orchestra of the Millennium. "A textbook example of how to turn opera into film... an altogether stirring experience in an inspired meld of the visual and the aural."-Los Angeles Times. (118 mins.) Print courtesy of Bunyik Entertainment.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/16, 4:45pm and 2/20, 8:30pm BW.

Hukkle- György Pálfi
"Twin Peaks meets Microcosmos in this playful but quietly ominous pageant of life, death, culpability and consumption in a sleepy Hungarian village. An elderly man sunning himself on a bench smiles through a bout of hiccups while a drunken youth snores nearby. These sounds lay the rhythm for this virtually dialogue-free film. Elsewhere, a kindly old lady picks lilies of the valley, women sew in the dressmaker's shop, men play boules near the pub, a beekeeper harvests honey, and women prepare meals for their husbands. Pigs mate under the approving eye of a farm couple, a pet cat dies suddenly. But beneath the calm pastoral surface brews a cunning murder plot-can you spot the clues? With a superb command of images and sounds, Pálfi creates a visually inventive and wildly imaginative whodunit."-Alissa Simon. "Pálfi takes delight in pitching curveballs... with a number of special effects that, like everything else in this rigorous yet unclassifiable film, come out of nowhere. Inventively edited, shot and recorded-the elaborately structured soundtrack, called by the director a 'conceptual soundscape' is alone worth the price of admission-Hukkle is a sensation."-Vancouver Film Festival. This year's Hungarian submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (75 mins.)
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/20, 6:30pm and 2/23, 6:15pm BW.

PHOTO - HUKKLE