The European country who's contemporary animation I have chosen to research is Hungary. I know absolutely nothing about its animation background, and I wanted to find out. I have broken down my findings into answers to questions posed in class. Below is my typographical map of Hungary's animation industry.
1. Any Animation Schools?
Surprisingly, either due to my lack of speaking Hungarian (aka Magyar) or lack of detective skills, I've only been able to unearth one school of animation in Hungary. The MOME University of Art and Design in Budapest teaches BA (Hons) Animation.
Founded in 1880, MOME is one of the most prestigious art related superior studies institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, with main courses in Architecture and Interior Design, Design (jewellery, ceramics, different artefacts, textile and clothing) and Media Art ( animated film, photography, media design, graphics).
2. Any Animation Festivals?
One particularly prominent Hungarian animation festival is KISKAKAS. The festival's name is in homage to The Little Cockerel's Diamond Coin, the first Hungarian animation in colour, made by Hungary's first animation studio, Pannonia, in 1951. It aims to stage the latest contemporary animation to the Hungarian public, and to showcase animation schools from around the world. It has been running for four years.
http://www.kiskakas.hu/en/index.html
In 2010 Hungary was a guest country at international animation festival Anim'est. It gave the Bucharest audience a chance to follow some of the best animated Hungarian films, both feature length and short. To top it off, renowned Hungarian director Géza M. Tóth presented a special collection of the short films he directed up to then, and the prestigious MOME Arts University in Budapest was the year’s Guest School at Anim’est. The four short films directed by Géza M. Tóth: Ergo(2008), Ikarosz (1996), Maestro (2005) andMama (2009) are some of the most awarded European animated short films shot in the last 15 years, nominated at the Oscars, selected and awarded in the competitions of the prestigious Film festivals in Berlin, Sarajevo, Dresda, and Zlin, and they set out to offer some of the most innovative and diverse animation recipes: from the blend of live and animated action, to spoofs of popular stories and animation techniques. This year, Anim'est will be held in Hungary. http://www.animest.ro/home.aspx
3. When did animation become prominent in the country?
The introduction of cinemas in the 1960s allowed animation to trickle in. As technology became cheap, large masses of people became introduced to this form of entertainment. In the countryside, clubs and community houses were converted to screening rooms, while in towns, and especially Budapest, hundreds of new movie theatres opened. Ticket price for premiere movies was 8 Ft, and 2 Ft for movies that played older films (in worker districts all tickets costed 2 Ft) - a cost that nearly every class could pay. With short animations and news reels playing before and after feature films, movie-going became a several hour long entertainment. Special theatres operated to only show children movies or news reels (a ticket was valid for 30 minutes).
A brief history of Hungarian animation;
1914: István Kató Kiszly first becomes involved in cut-out promotional animations for use during newsreels.
1932: Gyula Macskássy and János Halász establish Hungary's first animation studio, Coloriton.
1973: Marcell Jankovics creates the first feature-length Hungarian film, János Vitéz.
1981: Ferenc Rofusz wins the 1981 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film with A Légy.
1990 - Communism ends, and with it state support for Pannónia Film Stúdió, who made Hungary's first coloured animation (The Little Cockerel) in 1951. Independent studios like Varga Studio and Digic Pictures emerge.
4. Do Hungarian animators do most of their work in or out of the country?
There are 3 particularly prominent animation studios in Hungary; Digic Pictures (CG, prominent worldwide, made the Assassin's Creed: Revelations trailer and the Mass Effect 3 trailer),
Pannonia
Film Studio (most prominent
Hungarian animation studio, specialises in 2D), & Varga Studio (animated cartoon Mr Bean and Angelina
Ballerina, inked The Thief and the
Cobbler by Richard Williams, mostly
works for European and American companies). The fact all three studios have worked for western countries suggests they have decent tax breaks for animation, or their animators work for less money.
5. Is Hungarian animation mostly commercial or experimental?
From what I've found, its own work for itself is stylised, but its work for western countries is commercial. For example, Gábor Csupó is a Hungarian animator who co-founded the studio, Klasky-Csupo, Inc., which produced the Rugrats for Western audiences. The studio, based in Hollywood, also worked on The Simpsons from 1987 to 1993 and made the first 60 episodes. However, Hungarian animators in their own country are better known for experimental/controversial films such as Habfurdo (Foam Bath) by György Kovásznai, 1979.
6. Are Hungary's politics a hindrance to animating?
They certainly were in the 1950's. The reprisal following the civil war
of 1956 affected the movie world severely, several films were banned, while many
industry experts and actors left the country. Decentralization of the country's
film production was halted, the planned reorganization became superficial, with
the Hungarian National Filmmaking Company regaining its name of Hunnia Film
Studio, and the News and Documentary Film Company was renamed Budapest Film
Studio. Political influences regained their place in production, so directors
stayed away from contemporary or socially critical themes. Most of the films
were set between the two World Wars, many of them being literary adaptations.
Adopting novels from writers like Kálmán
Mikszáth or Sándor Tatay, they showed the detailed lifestyle of peasants and common man in
a moderately realistic fashion.
The sixties were
the years of rejuvenation for the Hungarian movie industry. After the harsher
years following the events of 1956, the newly erected socialist government,
headed by János
Kádár wanted to appear more
liberal, resulting in softening rules and regulations in every area. The two
former film studios were split to four independent one, headed by film-makers.
These artistic teams could approve or deny filming plans themselves,
supervision was only present in the form of pre-screening of the finished
movie. Instead of a multiple stages of control over scripts and plans, the censoring
became a posterior process. Only a low number of films became censored, not
only because the government's intention to maintain a more broad-minded image,
but directors also tried to avoid more problematic themes. Socially critical
films, often utilizing cross-talk and allegorical elements re-emerged, and many of
them were also being allowed to be screened at western film festivals. Communism ended in 1990, independent animation studios like Varga Studio emerged, and now Hungary is under the rule of Viktor Orban. I have found nothing to suggest his politics affect Hungarian animation, but plenty to suggest he is a feared dictator, so who knows how long this will last.
7. Is there a nationally predominant animation medium?
The most influential trend in Hungary in the 80's was documentarism, creating the genre of fictional documentary (or documentary feature films), a genre regarded as distinctively Hungarian. Short and full length documentaries created in the Balázs Béla Studio from the end of the sixties had a major influence in its creation. As film producers of the seventies were dissatisfied with illusion of realism of the previous years, they felt that conventional acting and dramatics no longer offered new possibilities. Animations in Hungary nowadays tend to be hand drawn for western countries, but mostly stop motion for their own films. Some CG is made there but generally for other countries.
Finally, here are two of the most accomplished Hungarian animations of the last thirty years, by legendary Hungarian director and philosopher Marcell Jankovics. The surprising feature film, Son of The White Mare / Fehérlófia(1982), a humorous pop-art representation of a Hungarian folklore legend;
And Song of the Miraculous Hind /Ének a csodaszarvasról(2002), directed by the same Marcell Jankovics - Palme D’Or winner, Oscar nominee and Leonardo Da Vinci International Art Award winner, offered by the International Cultural Council – a feature film also inspired from the Hungarian folklore, placed by film critics in the top 50 animated films made world-wide up to 2005.
This animated movie shows Marcell Jankovics's total devotion and love to his country. Unfortunately, it's not very entertaining for everyone, and non-Hungarians seem to simply find it dull. And they're not to blame at all. It seems like this one's been made to "stay in the family". It's like a strange ethnographic study on the Hungarian race.