Hungarian films suffer under Orbán

The Hungarian film Just the Wind by Benedek Fliegauf won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday. But Hungarian film is on its last legs under Viktor Orbán's right-wing conservative government, writes the left-wing daily Népszava: "The huge interest in Fliegauf's film is clearly also due to the fact that with its anti-democratic policies the Hungarian government is continually in the spotlight of the foreign - and hence also the German - media. The German press is well aware not only of the social and political crises in Hungary, but also of the measures introduced by the Orbán government that are so devastating for Hungarian culture - especially for Hungarian films. It no doubt also knows that the government has ruined Hungary's system of film financing, which functioned tolerably well in professional terms, bringing us numerous international successes. Since then Hungarian film production has practically come to a standstill. The only reason Hungarian films are made at all today is because productions already underway have been brought to a successful conclusion."

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