Budapest Classic Film Marathon 2025: Shawkat Mystery

Director: Ágnes Maksay

Screenplay by Ágnes Maksay
Director of photography: Farkas Filep, Lóránd László

Open Archives / CineDokk – Stories Found 

Introduction: Ágnes Maksay, film director
After the film, a discussion with Ágnes Maksay and Lóránd Boros. Moderator: Márton Kurutz, NFI – Film Archive.

Ágnes Maksay’s documentary is, in fact, the story of an investigation. It begins in Transylvania, where the remarkable hero of the tale was born to an Arab father and Hungarian mother. The narrator carrying out this quasi-investigation tracks his entire life, beginning with his primary school years all the way up to his triumphs in Egypt, with the film winding up with an Egyptian antiquarian whose collection includes posters for the once hugely popular films of Shawkat. Shawkat could also have been an important figure in Hungarian literature, the influence of Nyugat poets is apparent in his poetry, but as poet he never published more than one volume: and then the trail goes cold... but only as a writer of subjective poetry.

Supporting film: 

In the Land of the Pyramids
Hungarian documentary, colour, 1954, dir: Gábor Takács, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 29’

A short documentary film shot in 1954 about the Hungarian national squad’s trip to Cairo, which provides the opportunity to introduce the glories of Egypt to those who stayed at home. There is colour footage of the sights of Cairo, Luxor, Thebes and Memphis, as well as those wonders of the ancient world: the pyramids at Geza. While showing audiences local life, the filmmakers dip into the past and present of Egypt, and there is also a dramatic roundup of the football match between the teams of the two countries.

Egyptian film actor at Budapest Film Studio (Hungarian Film News)
Hungarian Film News, bw, 1958, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 1’

September 1958. Seif Eddine Shawkat and Yehia Chahine attending the shooting of The Bells Have Gone to Rome (A harangok Rómába mentek) directed by Miklós Jancsó in Budapest Film Studio.

More information on the Budapest Classic Film Marathon's program at Uránia >>