Hungarians at the 16th Kecskemét Animation Film Festival starting in a month
Did you know that the first Hungarian comic book was written 150 years ago, based on a text by Mór Jókai? And that KEDD studio that created Berry and Dolly, and The Grickles is now 20 years old and has spent more than a thousand Tuesdays working on it? Between 21 and 25 June, at the 16th KAFF, Hungary's biggest animation festival, you will be able to see a selection of their films, but also MOME Anim, which has been creating for 43 years, and the Filmtett Workshop from Cluj-Napoca. Films such as Marcell Jankovics' last film Toldi and Johnny Corncob, or the legendary Cat City, will be shown on giant screens. The five-day free festival will feature 60 hours of animation, book launches and workshops.
From 21 to 25 June, the 16th KAFF will also showcase several acclaimed Hungarian animation workshops. One of them is the 20-year-old KEDD studio. "In 20 years, we have spent more than a thousand Tuesdays working. On these and other weekdays, we have developed and produced nearly 800 interactive e-learning materials, more than 200 episodes of television animation, nearly 50 all-arts and educational productions. We have produced and distributed 600 episodes of in-house produced children's series and individual films, and edited 8 full-length versions of our children's series." - said the head of the studio, Géza M. Tóth. The KAFF will screen episodes of Berry and Dolly, The Grickles, Mitch-Match and Tales of Nasreddin Hodja, among others.
In 1980, the animated film department was launched at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, then the College of Applied Arts. The course, now known as MOME Anim, has become the most important training ground for Hungarian animation filmmakers and one of the leading Hungarian creative workshops, with students' films screening at the world's most prestigious festivals. The KAFF will screen works by Réka Bucsi, Tomek Ducki, Kati Glaser, Áron Gauder, Olivér Hegyi, Kinga Rofusz and Péter Vácz, among others.
One of the most important projects of the Cluj-based Filmtett Association is the Filmtett Workshop. The workshop was founded in the summer of 2002 with the aim of providing training, and for many years it was faithfully organised by the two-time Palme d'Or-winning Duna Workshop and its director, producer György Durst. The camp provides an opportunity for young talents to deepen their knowledge in various areas of filmmaking by forming professional groups. Since 2002, more than 700 young people have participated in 18 training sessions and more than 250 short films, animation, experimental and documentary films have been produced. The KAFF audience will be able to see a selection of their work, including a charming animation about two happy pencils, a story about a nice family made of gingerbread, a story based on an Örkény short story and a summary of the various phobias of humanity, from the common to the rare.
KAFF will have an exciting treat in the exhibition Bubble Talkers: 150 Years of Hungarian Comics, which will show that the first work of art, which can be considered a pictorial history, was created by the cartoonist János Jankó in several sequels for the caricature magazine Üstökös (The Comet), based on a text by Mór Jókai. Between 1950 and 1980, comic strips enjoyed a real renaissance in Hungary, with the most outstanding works being produced by such artists as Attila Dargay, Pál Korcsmáros, Imre Sebők and Ernő Zórád. Between 1981 and 2004, Attila Fazekas, among others, had his comics published in independent booklets and books, and after 2005 a new generation of graphic artists produced his comics, which developed a large fan base through comic festivals and the internet.
In the main square of Kecskemét, films such as Marcell Jankovics' last work Toldi; one of the greatest classics of the 200th anniversary of Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi's birth Johnny Corncob, The Tragedy of Man, or the 80th anniversary of the birth of the legendary figure of Hungarian animation, Béla Ternovszky’s Cat City will be shown on giant projectors.
