Pál Mácsai

PONIES

In 1977 Moscow, two "PONIES" ("persons of no interest") become CIA operatives and uncover a Cold War conspiracy their husbands were killed for.

In Treatment

Exploring one of the defining features of modern society, therapy, as seen through the eyes of a psychiatrist whose professional and personal life is on the verge of collapse.

The Informant

Behind the Iron Curtain, Geri leaves for college, looks forward to meeting girls and partying and joins a group of radicals led by the charismatic Száva. But Geri has a secret. He’s an informant of the totalitarian state and to save his brother, he’s been forced to spy on his new friends for State Security.

On Body and Soul

Two introverted people find out by pure chance that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous, a bit frightened. As they hesitantly accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate in broad daylight what happens in their dream.

Stalin's Bride

At a dusty crossroads in the Soviet Union villagers surrender their possessions - a horse, a samovar, a goat - to the state. The train which takes them away brings to the village a physically and mentally handicapped woman, barely able to speak. She makes herself bracelets of burrs and studies herself in a cracked and cloudy mirror. Befriended by very few, teased and tormented by many she seeks protection at a huge portrait of Stalin.

Mastergame

A young, revolutionary couple aboard the last train leaving Budapest after the Russian invasion of 1956. Based on a novel by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.

Cream

The love of 34-year-old Dora's life, has broken up with her - or worse: he has remarried. Her only joy, the pastry shop she owns, also appears to be lost. She makes up her mind to get both her ex-boyfriend and her pastry shop back, even if it means she has to lie.

Nyolc évszak

The Housewarming

The elite of political and business life of the country town gather to celebrate the namesday of Haudek László in the luxury villa. Everything begins just as usual, but now an incident disturbs the stag party.

Bye Bye Germany

David Berman and his friends, all Holocaust survivors, have only one purpose: to go to America as soon as possible. For this they need money. Close to his aim, David is not only deprived of his savings but also overtaken by his shady past.

A hattyú

Impostor

I am not good enough. My results so far are simply due to luck. Everyone will laugh at me." - repines the well-known astronomy professor by his impostor syndrome. Meanwhile, an unprecedented overall power outage is about to take place in the city of Budapest. The astronomer, on the verge of a challenging discovery, plans to spend the hours of darkness in his observatory, benefiting from the absence of light pollution. He is getting disturbed by an unexpected visitor though, who - while being vibratingly annoying - may be of the professor's help to shed new light on the real subject of his exploration: his own self.

Dear Betrayed Friends

Andor Czettl, in his early sixties, visits the secret service archives one day to read into the reports about himself and discovers a shocking fact. His very best friend János Pásztor was an informer, spying on him and writing reports about him for decades. Sára Cserhalmi's first feature focuses not so much on the actual problem of informing and betrayal as on the contradictory relationship of the two protagonists. It avoids any final judgments. First and foremost, it seeks answers to questions like how an informer can live in our present times and how the one being reported on can cope with this state. Can a close friendship that began decades ago last if such betrayal comes to light? How can someone live and cope with this fact?

Unfinished Business

On the day the Berlin Wall falls, a determined young actress has a job interview at the National Theater. But, while a world-order falls apart outside, she is confronted to an old family-secret that will change everything.

Hanussen

A man's story parallels Hitler's rise. Austrian Klaus Schneider, wounded in World War I, recovers in the care of Dr. Emil Bettleheim. Bettleheim discovers that Schneider possesses powers of empathy and of clairvoyance, such that could aid suicidal patients. After the war, with one friend as his manager and another as his lover, Schneider changes his name to Eric Jan Hanussen and goes to Berlin, as a hypnotist and clairvoyant performing in halls and theaters. He always speaks the truth, which brings him to the attention of powerful Nazis. He predicts their rise (good propaganda for them) and their violence (not so good). He's in pain and at risk. What is Hanussen's future?