Twenty-two short and animated films to be produced

The Media Council provided a total of HUF 75.5 million worth of grants for short film makers in the second round of the 2017 Huszárik Zoltán tender of the Hungarian Media Patronage program. The post-World War II era has served as a source of inspiration for numerous filmmakers. Linda Dombrovszky’s short film is set in a Gulag of Siberia. István Tényi shows the inner workings of a typical Budapest apartment building in the mid-50s, year after year, upon the arrival of the winter firewood. In Bálint Szentgyörgyi’s upcoming film, a young woman recognizes one of her husband’s former assailants in an elevator, years after his murder. Szilárd Bernáth tells a tale of a young man, set in the final days of the revolution, who rushes to save his injured lover. Tibor Puszt is turning Géza Páskándi’s narrative entitled Fábián Lajos megöletése (The Assassination of Lajos Fábián) into a film, whilst György Farkas is making on an adaptation of József Nyírő’s short story entitled Most már jöhetsz Jézuska (You can come now, little Jesus), set in the rural Székely landscape. Nikol Cibulya is set to produce a motion picture on the demise of Ignaz Semmelweis. In András Petrik’s film, the appearance of the police and a superhero spell the end to the perfectly peaceful day-to-day life of a family. In Róbert Odegnál’s short film, the selfie camera of a girl’s phone presents the excessive criticism of young adults on their own looks — yet actually in a twisted manner. Bence Miklauzic’s film deals with a single mother, rushing off to her language exam: for the young woman, passing the exam is tantamount to finding a job necessary to make a living. László Béres’s film features two alternate timelines: a taxi driver saves the life of the same man twice, thirty years apart. Attila Antal’s award-winning, cross-border film plan features the story of a young man getting into trouble over his photograph of a prostitute.

The third round of last year’s Macskássy Gyula tender yielded a total of HUF 66.9 million worth of grants for ten animated films. Set in the distant future, Árpád Koós’s film entitled Acid deals with the ephemeral nature of music trends. New episodes will be produced for existing animated series: Szőrmók ovi (Bugaboo Garten; director: Zoltán Miklósy), Hunor (director: Béla Klingl), Átjáró Másvárosba (Door to Othertown; director: Bálint Farkas Gelley), Ahány király, annyi mese (As Many Tales As Kings; director: Bella Szederkényi) and Kippkopp a Hóban (Kippkopp in the snow; director: Szilvia Fabók, Tamás Lerch) are all set to continue. Four applicants received grants for the production of pilot episodes of new series. Líviusz Gyulai is set to create an animated series based on Mark Twain’s novel entitled Egy jenki Arthur király udvarában (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court). The first movement of Modest Mussorgsky’s most famous composition, Pictures at an Exhibition, will come to life through Veronika Fodor’s text written for the work accompanied by Hajnalka Szimonidesz Kovács’s illustrations (director: Csaba Szórádi). István Lugosi’s work is the first episode in the story of Doctor Traum, a physician obsessed with all things psychological, and his collection of dreams. Bálint Kelen’s tale deals with the adventures of teenage terrors at a monster-training institution.

Media supervisory decisions

The Media Council imposed a fine of HUF 100 thousand on the media service provider of RTL KLUB for the violation of product placement-related regulations. The channel’s show entitled High Life screened on 21 October 2017 featured irregular promotions for a hotel, presented in an advertising report-like nature, thus providing too much detail.

The Media Council also imposed a fine of HUF 100 thousand on the media service provider—operating as a community media service provider—of Rádió Q (currently known as Retro Rádió) for solely broadcasting music during one of the year-end weeks of last year, contrary to the contents of its public contract. It failed to publish spoken content, programs dealing with local public life and assisting everyday life, news programs or ones for nationalities, thus failing to perform any of its undertakings related to its special schedule or public service broadcasts.

When imposing a fine, the Media Council always determines the form and extent of the penalties with due consideration to all the circumstances of the specific case and employing the principle of progressiveness and proportionality.

Frequency-related decision

At the request of HOLD Rádiós és Televíziós Reklám Kft., the board has decided to extend the media service provision rights for the Mosonmagyaróvár 99.7 MHz commercial local radio frequency by five years, until 17 May 2023.