One of the oldest film studios in the world was founded by Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor, who set off from home as a teenager with just a few dollars in his pocket before launching his enterprise based on motion pictures in the United States. As head of Paramount studio, he was producer of around 80 films between 1913 and 1930. His lifework was recognized with an Oscar in 1949. “The public is never wrong”, he once declared. Our compilation selects from Paramount’s later box office hits.

Gyula Gazdag selected eight films for the Budapest Classics Film Marathon programme, each one revealing life’s absurdity in very different ages and places, as formulated by Buster Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Luis Buñuel, Vittorio de Sica, Sidney Lumet, Volker Schlöndorff, John Cassavetes, and Ivan Passer.

Imre Pressburger was born in Miskolc but he came to the attention of the world in Great Britain as Emeric Pressburger. Together with his creative partner Michael Powell they made a couple of dozen movies, several of which have become classics of universal film history. The unique tone of their works, the imaginative dialogues and astonishing visual solutions brought the pair countless fans, from King George VI to Martin Scorsese. Pressburger’s grandchildren, producer Andrew Macdonald and Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald, have made numerous successful films.

In the Hungarian section, through films we present the thousand facets of 150-year-old Budapest. We remember the evergreen favourite Kálmán Latabár by running some of his most popular movies. Student curators invite us to rediscover the synthesis of artworks put out by Balázs Béla Studio.