Filmography

The Wonderful Life of Aunt Emmi (2019, documentary)

https://youtu.be/lvYEMCWkbgk?si=xFXajoGUfw-YLvci

Emma Nemeskéri blew out 100 candles on her birthday cake on December 6th 2016. She started to work as an optician in 1937, in Lajos Libál’s shop in downtown Budapest, quite a unique shop in the Hungary of the time. She retired from there at the age of 99 in 2016.

Mme Emma was born in 1916, the youngest of five in a time when thousands of Hungarian children were living in poverty. Having been sent abroad, first to Belgium at the age of six, then to Switzerland, she had to re-learn her native Hungarian when she came back at the age of 12. She survived a direct hit during the bombings of World War 2, which – in her own words – was an irrevocable “life sentence”. Mme Emmi’s memories, the scenes where her life played out, the faces of Budapest old and new appear like as many living postcards. As we glimpse into the world of optometry in a time when fake eyes sold very well indeed, we also learn about the changing requirements of customers over the years. A portrait of a person and a documentary of an age in one. It chronicles the 20th century through the story of a genial, ever-smiling lady of 101, with charm, humor, practical realities and every day battles of people now gone. The film connects us to parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, the country and the capital through a mesmerizing lady.

The Myth of Sisyphus (2021, experimental short film)

an experimental short film based on The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

Várdai - non SOLO CELLO (2024, feature documentary)

https://youtu.be/WvvjqZrFHzk?si=bRQuqYv5OroZiimN

Standing ovation. It is the finale of István Várdai’s Bach solo evening, the audience stands and applauds, demanding an encore after the three-hour concert. Who is this young man, accompanied but his 1673 Stradivari, mesmerising the audience packed like a can of sardines?

István Várdai, the world-class Hungarian musician, still only in his thirties, is one of the most sought-after cellists of our time. His story, with a glimpse into his life, reveals what comes with having unique talent. Is it a blessing? Or a burden, making life more difficult? What happens when ambition comes with a huge sense of mission?

If one of our senses is switched off, the other four get refined. During his childhood, Várdai practiced a lot blindfolded, thanks to which his concentration skills and his memory are above average.
Before the pandemic, he gave around 100 concerts a year worldwide, being on the road 200 days a year. With his immersive, deep-drawn play he gives his most during the concerts. At the present, next to his solo carrier he is professor of cello at the Vienna Academy of Music, artistic director of the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra and the Kaposfest International Chamber Music Festival. He is passionate about talent development, he holds master classes all around the world, he constantly experiments with his innovation company, and recently he also started conducting. He resides in Vienna, he is a husband and a father of two. A true role model. How can one achieve so much at such a young age? How is it possible to be present and focused in so many ways all at once? Is it escapism or commitment in its purest form?

In our movie, we see him working together with other great names of the contemporary music scene: Péter Eötvös, Vikingur Olafsson, Kristof Baráti, Lawrence Foster, we see him lecturing at the Vienna Academy and at a masterclass in Italy, returning to the Kronberg Academy, where he studied and later started his teaching career, while we are also brought closer to his persona in an intimate atmosphere.

An inspirational documentary portrait about an artist who is a real contemporary role model for the younger generations.

This project has been supported by the Hungarian National Film Institute

Hungária, the band (2024, short documentary)

The story of the legendary Hungarian pop-rock band which despite periodic suppression by the Hungarian Communist regime, by the early 1980s was one of the country's most popular bands.

The frontman Miklós Fenyő lived in the United States for a time, when he was a child. He entered the Hungarian music scene in 1962 and started his first own band, then in 1967 he formed the Hungária. The band then experienced many lineup changes, with Fenyő as the only consistent member. In 1979 the band decided to adopt the style of early rock n' roll revivals, with English lyrics and tours of Western Europe. Their 1980 album in this style, Rock ’n’ Roll Party, was a major hit in Hungary, and the band adopted 1950s American rock n' roll fashions for all public appearances, as did many of their fans. The 1981's album Hotel Menthol was another substantial hit.

After the breakup in 1983 the band gave a concert in 1995, and then, after nearly 30 years, 2024 was the year of the "great return" and probably the last concert - 50 000 people watched Hungaria's concert live. The first screening of the documentary was there, in the packed stadium. The short docu tells their story between 1979 and 1983, the more successfull period of the band.

Tact (2019, short docu)

A woman's personal story in the International Children's Train Action in the Interwar Period