Film series highlights Hungarian identity, past and present

The intense hubbub surrounding the Oscars each year usually relegates less-mainstream film events to the back burner. One such event is a showcase of contemporary Hungarian films at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater.

The showcase, titled “New Films from Hungary,” features 13 films in seven days and offers a unique cinematic selection ranging from a sci-fi thriller based on a story by Stanislaw Lem (“Solaris”) to a strikingly crafted documentary by renowned artist and filmmaker Péter Forgács.

Forgács’s film “Hunky Blues: The American Dream” chronicles long-forgotten stories of Hungarians who immigrated to America in the early 20th century. A pastiche of archival footage, photos, and interviews, “Hunky Blues” details the backbreaking poverty—largely caused by overwhelming taxes imposed by Hungary’s government—that impelled many Hungarians to emigrate as well as the difficulties they faced upon disembarking in America. Arriving at Ellis Island, Hungarian immigrants—or hunkies, as they were derogatorily called—encountered tremendous obstacles. American inspectors employed a horrifying system by which immigrants with any sort of medical conditions were sent back to Hungary, without treatment or a refund for their ticket.

Alongside interviews, the film seamlessly integrates letters written by immigrants to relatives in Hungary, which are interspersed throughout the film. One girl recalls a Christmas morning in America in which someone threw a snowball at her forehead with a rock embedded inside the packed snow. A man remembers working in American mines. “The mine company ruled everything,” he said. “They were the lord.”

Amidst the solemn stories, there were also uplifting immigrant accounts. One man spoke of his mother, a “modern woman” who worked in a cigar factory by day and a theatrical group by night. In 1923, at only 20 years old, she purchased a car with money earned entirely on her own.

In addition to “Hunky Blues,” other important showcased films include “Chameleon,” Hungary’s candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards, and “The Man From London,” featuring Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton.

Hungarian cinema captures the zeitgeist of Hungary during the early and mid-20th century, a period in which Hungarians were terrorized by two world wars and failed revolutions as well as communist and fascist control. Conflicting ideologies alongside of political and social unrest molded Hungary’s—and Hungarians’—identity, which is reflected uniquely in each film. This ideological ambiguity is explicitly present in “Fragment,” a film about a priest in an isolated monastery attempting to reconcile Catholicism and communism in the aftermath of World War II.

The showcase at Lincoln Center strives to expose New York audiences to a sampling of Hungarian cinema, depicting the country’s past struggles as well as its present vitality.