The Hungarian documentary film sector may be approaching a turning point. The Hungarian Documentary Association (HDA) has compiled a comprehensive set of proposals to improve the financing system for documentary films. The ‘white paper’, presented by HDA’s leadership on November 14, 2025 in Budapest, calls for specific reforms to establish a more transparent, predictable, and sustainable support structure for documentary filmmakers. HDA firmly believes that ensuring the future of documentary films is a matter of national cultural interest.

Read the proposal here.

CRITICAL VOICES UNDER ATTACK IN HUNGARY
Hungarian Documentary Filmmakers Face Political Backlash Under Proposed Legislation

Dear Friends of the Hungarian Film Community,

Hungary faces a critical moment in terms of free speech. When a country sanctions in law that someone can be punished for their opinion, it is openly declaring itself an autocracy. As of this morning, Orbán’s Hungary has moved closer to Putin’s Russia and further from Europe than at any point since the democratic transition.

The Hungarian Parliament is preparing to vote on a bill titled “On the Transparency of Public Life.” Given the ruling party’s two-thirds majority under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the bill is expected to pass. If enacted, it would endanger the work and livelihoods of Hungarian documentary filmmakers who rely on international funding to tell stories that challenge the government’s narrative or focus on issues deemed controversial or “anti-Hungarian,” such as marginalized communities or dissenting viewpoints.

Under the proposed law, civil organizations, independent media, and companies receiving foreign funding could be placed on a public watchlist and face severe sanctions for allegedly threatening Hungary’s sovereignty. Even funding from open EU tenders, foreign nationals, or dual Hungarian citizens could trigger penalties.

The bill outlines subjects that must not be portrayed negatively, including: Hungary’s democratic institutions, national unity, Hungarian communities abroad, the traditional family structure and biological sex, peace, national security, international cooperation, the constitutional identity of Hungary, and Christian culture.

As documentary filmmakers, we aim to amplify marginalized voices and spark critical dialogue – free from censorship. If this law passes, what will happen to film companies that produce films on topics like LGBTQ rights, migration, or the war in Ukraine – projects unlikely to receive state support and therefore reliant on international funding? Will festivals and organizations like MADOKE become targets simply for promoting open discourse?

Over the 15 years of the FIDESZ government, independent documentary filmmakers have been systematically excluded from public funding for addressing topics denied or distorted by the state. Many have continued only through unpaid labor and foreign grants. In Hungary, for the majority of documentary filmmakers, filmmaking has become a passion project – driven by civic commitment, not sustainable economics.

We stand in solidarity with independent journalists and media workers, NGOs and all Hungarian citizens who dare to express their views publicly, despite personal and professional risks. We believe in national and international collaboration.

This law is the latest in a series of measures attacking freedom of assembly, expression, and dissent. Its goal is to silence all who think or act differently. Let us stand united as one critical voice – please support Hungarian documentary filmmakers in any way you can!

Share this letter within your filmmaker community, raise awareness, put pressure on your local film institutes or educate them about what is happening in Hungary.

Dreams at Sunset (HU/RO)

director: Ibolya Simó, editor: Szabolcs Kővári, producer: Genovéva Petrovits, Adrienn Bács

Transylvania’s impoverished villages are largely populated by the elderly who have spent their entire lives in manual, agricultural and farm work. They have dreams – just like everyone else – but they find it hard to put them into words. ISU, a social worker in his thirties, turns the lives of the elderly upside down by challenging the community. His message is very simple: IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START LIVING.

Papa (HU)

director: Attila Ponczók, editor: Wanda Kiss, producer: Ábel Kocsó, co-producer: Peter Stern

Papa is an observational documentary in which we follow the director’s grandfather, the 79-year-old Zoltán Ponczók, or Papa, in his search for a social and spiritual home. The haggling on the bustling markets at dawn, the warm hearty meals of his wife, and the love he bears for his children have provided him with much needed spiritual respite. However, the untimely loss of his beloved wife has changed everything. Papa’s placement has also left its mark on his family life, until social accommodation became the only option. As his two-year limit in social care approaches, he hopes to get into a nursing home, but waiting lists can mean years.

2158 Stories (DK/HU)

director: Ida Marie Gedbjerg Sorensen, editor: Marianna Rudas, producers: Krisztina Meggyes & Rikke Tambo Andersen

2158 Stories is an ode to cinema inspired by the discovery of a notebook, in which a Hungarian worker documented the 2158 cinema trips he made over the course of his life. Behind the orderly notebook, the director discovers a split family with a shared passion for cinema. We follow four of the notebook owner’s descendants living in contemporary Hungary and discover how they carry on the film legacy. The multiplot story is weaved together by the young filmmaker’s reflections about cinema and memory. How come the films that we remember are the ones that make us forget about ourselves?

Don’t Worry, Sári! (HU)

director: Sari Haragonics, editor: Flóra Erdélyi, producers: Sára László & Inez Mátis

I lost my Mum 12 years ago, which was a huge trauma in our family’s life: for me, my Dad, my brother and my cousin. Her absence created emotional blocks we all had to deal with. I decided to follow the changes in our family dynamics with my camera for a five year-long period, up to the point when I realised it is not my job to save everyone, that I cannot solve their problems and I must not continue my mother’s path. The film operates with different audio-visual tools including personal archive footage my mother started filming in the 1980s, through which we get to know the story of a family on a bumpy road on a personal and a social level.

dok.incubator HU is organised in cooperation with MADOKE and co-funded by European Union, National Film Institute Hungary, Visegrad Fund