Women’s perspective / Meeting: Selection of shorts by Hungarian female directors
Egyszer volt, hol nem volt / Once Upon a Time, dir: Zsuzsa Böszörményi, 1990, 22’
Kilencedik emelet / Ninth Floor, dir: Lívia Gyarmathy, 1977, 39’
Bóbita / Topknot, dir: Márta Mészáros, 1964, 18’
A munka akrobatái / Acrobats at Work, dir: Lia Simonyi, 1939, 10’
Attention to the detail of everyday life and a documentarist approach are common threads linking short films by Lia Simonyi, Márta Mészáros, Lívia Gyarmathy and Zsuzsa Böszörményi. The earliest piece, Acrobats of Work (A munka akrobatái, 1939), shows workers going about their normal jobs with skills enough to shame even trapeze artists. However, they receive no applause even though they are the true heroes of our daily life. Márta Mészáros and Lívia Gyarmathy, outstanding figures of Hungarian film history, are introduced in this section by one of their lesser-known, early shorts. The heroes of Topknot (1964) and Ninth Floor (1977) roam the labyrinths of broken families and dysfunctional human relationships. Zsuzsa Böszörményi’s Student Academy Award-winning film Once Upon a Time (1990) brings a smile to the face with a bittersweet story.
