Károly Makk and Zoltán Kamondi set the 1955 work by Tibor Déry in the present. The protagonist was modelled on the writer himself while his friend, Aurél Márk, was developed in the image of cultural supremo György Aczél. The film poses questions about late Kádárist elite intellectuals with a measure of self-irony. The great writer György Nyári is being buried. His academician friend Márk was to have given the eulogy but he suffers a heart attack. The coffin lid opens and the writer steps out. Rumour has it that he was writing a diary in which he would expose everything and everyone…
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Gombnyomásra, Hungarian animation, colour, 1973, dir: Katalin Macskássy, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 11’
In this sociologically inspired cartoon examining children’s drawings and stories, the imagination-rich pictures of kindergarteners are gradually replaced by drawings done by primary school pupils that envision a fully automated (robotized) everyday life in the spirit of modern technological development. With the passage of the years, teens on the brink of adulthood – keeping their feet firmly on the ground – exhibit a grey, conformist world view. As one of the boys puts it: “I’m going to be a footballer, or a doctor, or a grocery store deputy manager.”
