During the first round of the 2017 Ágoston Kollányi tender announced for nonfiction films, the Media Council awarded HUF 95.6 million for 11 tender proposals. Tibor Kocsis is making a film about the history of the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden entitled Sissi zsiráfjától a biodomig (From Sissi’s Giraffe to the Biodome). Emil Novák traces the history of the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers in his Vili és Laci (Vili and Laci), a film featuring well-known artists like Lajos Koltai, Sándor Sára or Vittorio Storaro. A special research task force was formed for the sake of the film Magyar Föld (Hungarian Soil) by Gábor Kővári, attempting to answer the question why a total of 100 million tons of soil disappears from Hungary each year. Directed by Zoltán Hevér, the series Reformáció hétről hétre (Reformation Weekly) will continue with 16 new 5-minute episodes awarded by the Council to commemorate the semi-millennial of the birth of the Reformation. The second season of the series Gondolkodás művészete (The Art of Thinking) will also be created with six original Hungarian products and projects introduced to viewers. Attila Bokor will direct the film Jazz, avagy a szabadság szimbóluma (Jazz, the Symbol of Freedom) about the formative figures of the genre in Hungary with some international outlook. Egodetox (director: Artin Tóth) focuses on István Drahos and dog sledding, a rare sport in Hungary. Born in Szentendre, this Hungarian man completed the Norwegian Finnmarkslöpet, a 548 km nonstop race. Directed by Hédi Sztanó and featuring the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble and the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble, A magyar csárdás (The Hungarian Czardas) discovers the background in dance history and analyses the typical stylistic and character traits of this special Hungarian dance. How do we remember and how does the digital world affect how our brain works? Brain researcher György Buzsáki and his team attempt to answer these questions in Tamás Novák’s film entitled Emlékezet (Memory). Miezmiaz? (What Is This And That?), a motion picture encyclopaedia directed by Miklós Gerdelics and Géza M. Tóth is a collection of popular science animations to cover entries like zoo, doll and magician. Directed by Áron Mátyássy, Rövid magyar bitkorszak (The Short Hungarian Bit Era) tells the story of MEV, a Hungarian microelectronics company destroyed in 1986 in a fire of still unknown circumstances.

Aimed at funding public service programmes, the János Neumann tender will provide a total of HUF 7 million through the Media Council for seven films. One of the seven tender winners, Fundatia Rex Video is from outside Hungary, and their film entitled Lekvár (Marmalade) will be presented on filmdzsungel.tv and will tell the story of a Transylvanian brown bear and unravel the myths surrounding this large mammal of the Carpathian Mountains. Természetes egészség (Natural Health) talks about the use of edible health preventive plants of the wilderness in a series of 3 5-minute episodes to be displayed on the online version of Magyar Idők. The series T-lakások (T Apartments) to be produced for the Internet version of Echo TV will uncover the secrets of these special premises of the Kádár Era maintained by the Ministry of Interior for meetings with gents. The channel venue will host the 5-episode series A Kilencedik átka (The Curse of the Ninth) to focus on the common traits of the ninth symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner, Schubert, Dvorák and Mahler. The series Versfilmek (Poem Films) will be also available on echotv.hu and will present the poems of contemporary Hungarian poets from abroad. FOLK will have a new season with new episodes on folk music formations to be presented at valasz.hu. Eight geniuses are portrayed in the series Elfeledett magyar informatikusok (Forgotten Hungarian Information Scientists) to be presented at karpatpress.hu. The Media Council accepts entries for the 5th round of the 2016 Neumann tender until 15 June. Preferred entries will produce online content specifically for children to increase their media literacy.

Radio decisions

With regards to the local radio frequency tender Velence Meleg-hegy 90.4 MHz, the Media Council selected “B & T Kft.” as the winner from among two bidders having submitted tender proposals valid both in terms of form and content. The Authority requested information from LB Rádió Kft. in the tender proceeding related to local radio frequencies Hajdúböszörmény 98.9 MHz and Hajdúnánás 93.3 MHz. The Council has finalized the tender announcement of the local radio frequency Dunaújváros 93.1 MHz, and will announce it and publish it on the website of the Media Council on 1 June.