Csaba Káel: Last News

Christopher Vourlias Few could have predicted the global disruptions of the past two years, with the coronavirus pandemic continuing to claim lives and upend livelihoods and the war in Ukraine – now in its second month – sparking a crisis whose human, political and economic tolls have yet to be fully reckoned with. For most of the world’s screen industries, forced to adapt on the fly to unforeseen and often unprecedented events, simply staying afloat has somehow come to feel like a triumph.Yet despite the challenges and lingering uncertainty, the Hungarian industry is riding high.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Hungary’s 30% tax incentive for film and TV, which has helped attract recent Hollywood shoots like “Dune: Part Two,” “Maria” and “The Brutalist” to the country, has been extended by six years. Hungary, continental Europe’s biggest production hub, has attracted direct annual production spend totalling $910 million, a fourfold increase in the last five years.

Hungary’s 30% tax incentive for film and series productions has been extended for six more years. 

Christopher Vourlias At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much common cause between Pablo Larraín’s anticipated Maria Callas biopic, “Maria,” starring Angelina Jolie as the titular opera singer, and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” a 215-minute epic about a Holocaust survivor forging a new life in America. Though both films will premiere on the Lido at this year’s Venice Film Festival, where they’re competing for the Golden Lion, they are in most ways worlds apart.

Christopher Vourlias When it comes to the wild success of the film industry in Hungary, which is the largest production hub in continental Europe and second in Europe only to the U.K., film commissioner Csaba Káel is quick to credit a rich cinematic legacy dating back more than 100 years. “There is a huge tradition,” he said. “We have a special film DNA in Hungary.” The industry’s ongoing success, however, as well as its hopes for the future, is just as reliant on sound policy and investment from the country’s National Film Institute, along with a deep pool of world-class talent that is the envy of industries twice its size.

Valerie Wu Intern “Poor Things,” starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, has already generated a substantial amount of Oscars buzz, becoming a major contender for next year’s awards season. What less people might know about the film is that it was shot in Budapest, Hungary — a location that appealed to the “Poor Things” filmmakers for its “abundant studio space,” “highly skilled crew base,” “favorable costs” and “attractive 30% cash rebate,” according to Christopher Vourlias of Variety. Not only that, but Hollywood filmmakers have historically used Hungary in their productions, with films like “Dune,” “Blade Runner 2049” and “Black Widow” all being shot in Budapest.

William Earl Variety will present four conversations centered on global incentives and filming at Cannes Film Festival at the American Pavilion on Saturday, May 20 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Panelists from Spain, Hungary, Poland and Film Alula will participate in conversations moderated by Variety reporters John Hopewell, Leo Barraclough and Nick Vivarelli. The panels will highlight each of the region’s facilities, incentives, and filming community. Guests of the conversations will include producers, sales agents, distributors and creatives looking to learn about the different filming opportunities in these regions. Juan Manuel Guimeráns from the General Secretary Spain Film Commission will speak on the Spain Location panel. Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Madants producer; Kamila Morgisz, head of film production and film project development at the Polish Film Institute; and Martin Moszkowicz, chairman of the executive board at Constantin Film will discuss production in Poland. Csaba Káel, film commissioner and chairman of the National Film Institute and Ildiko Kemeny, CEO/producer of Pioneer Stillking Films will speak about filming in Hungary. Charlene Deleon-Jones, executive director, Alula, will speak on Saudi Arabia production opportunities.

Nick Holdsworth Csaba Káel, head of Hungary’s National Film Institute (NFI), hopes to emulate an 18th century Magyar hussar hero at this year’s Berlinale European Film Market. Swashbuckling Count Andras Hadik occupied Berlin for one day in 1757 — in return for 300,000 silver thalers, left without destroying the city. Hadik’s adventure is the subject of one of the films the NFI will be marketing at the EFM. Káel plans to spend more than a day in Berlin, but also hopes Hungarian producers will leave with handsome sales ledgers after the market — without having to raise a ransom, like the handsome hussar. It is the first EFM for the NFI, since it was established in 2020, just as the pandemic hit, closing down the Berlinale’s market until this year.