István Szabó

Final Report (2020)

A cardiologist is sent into retirement, but he feels at loss without his work. He returns to his home village to work as a general practitioner. This is the start of his ordeal: he's confronted with raw reality, which finally brings him to his knees. But m ...

The Door (2012)

Emerenc, an elderly and private woman, is hired to be the housekeeper of a struggling writer, Magda. An event in the writer's life prompts Emerenc to disclose details of her traumatizing past, which will bond the two women forever. Based on the novel by Ma ...

Death Waltz (2010)

From a policewoman broken leg seems completely slip out of the soil. Life-threatening love triangle mixed with her husband and their criminal friends. ...

Rokonok (2006)

Young honest public official is sworn in after his predecessor had to leave due to a corruption scandal. Soon, the young idealist discovers just how far-reaching the corruption is in his town and how easy it is to become corrupt yourself. ...

Being Julia (2004)

Julia Lambert is a true diva: beautiful, talented, weathly and famous. She has it all - including a devoted husband who has mastermined her brilliant career - but after years of shining in the spotlight she begins to suffer from a severe case of boredom a ...

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002)

Collection of short films the summaries of which include; a foreign man moving to Italy, getting married and having a child; a four split scene short involving plot-less images of old people with television sets for heads, a beautiful woman having sex, and ...

Ten Minutes After (2002)

Hungarian director Istvan Szabo with "Ten minutes after" tells the family drama of a wife who is about to celebrate her husband's 40th birthday. Ten minutes later... the idyllic family atmosphere has completely changed. ...

Taking Sides (2002)

One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Wilhelm Furtwangler's reputation rivaled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification programme. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate p ...

Sunshine (1999)

The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century. ...

Sweet Emma, Dear Böbe (1992)

The story shows Emma's and Böbe's fight for survival, for keeping their position in society which they achieved with hard work in the previous regime. They don't want to lose their place and become village girls again. ...

Meeting Venus (1991)

Celebrated Swedish opera star Karin Anderson is slated to appear in an internationally-telecast production of Tannhauser. Ms. Anderson balks at the notion of working with obscure Hungarian conductor Zoltan Szanto. The much-anticipated production may never ...

Hanussen (1988)

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 ...

Cat's Game (1985)

Erzsi, living alone in Budapest, keeps up phone and letter contact with her sister Gisa in Germany. Both elderly, they've long grown apart in how they face aging: Gisa accepts it, while Erzsi tries to hold on to youth, encouraged by her friend Paula and by ...

Colonel Redl (1985)

Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Secret Police only to become ensnared in political deception. ...

Bali (1984)

Mephisto (1981)

A German stage actor finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-WWII Germany. As his associates and friends flee or are ground under by the Nazi terror, the popularity ...

The Green Bird (1980)

The love story between a German cancer researcher and her Polish colleague that drags on for more than ten years. Both are married, which rules out marriage, but fuels their passion, as they only see each other a few days a year at medical congresses. ...

Confidence (1980)

Janos and Kata are thrown together during the Second World War and forced to pose as husband and wife to hide from the Nazis. The intensity and suffocating intimacy of their new relationship and the circumstances in which they find themselves, forces them ...

Budapest Tales (1977)

"Budapest Tales" is about a group of people (consisting of Szabo regular Andras Balint along with Ildiko Bansagi and Karoly Kovacs) who find a broken down tram while trying to go to the city. The people band together and try to get the tram back on the tra ...

City Map (1977)

Through the personal memories of István Szabó we can became the observers of the life of Budapest. ...

25 Fireman's Street (1973)

On one hot summer night, the residents of a Hungarian apartment house slated for demolition restlessly revisit their haunted pasts as they face an uncertain future. In a gently turning kaleidoscope of dream imagery, regret-laden nostalgia and painstakingly ...

A Dream of a House (1972)

A short film directed by István Szabó. ...

Budapest, amiért szeretem (1971)

István Szabó reveals a lesser-known side to the public in this work, which strings together eight shorts of Budapest into a single movie. In the piece interpretable as a declaration of love addressed to the capital there are numerous motifs that are also ...

Tér (1971)

Lovefilm (1970)

A story of two young people in Hungary, Jancsi and Kata. First they are good friends, later lovers. Soon after the 1956 Revolution Kata leaves Hungary, Jancsi stays there. After 10 years Jancsi is allowed to visit Kata in France, their love is reborn, but ...

Father (1966)

When young Tako's father dies in Hungary in 1945, Tako is left with scant memories of him. Nurtured by his mother, the boy fantasizes about the man his father was, imagining him a hero. Grown into a man himself, Tako falls for a Jewish refugee, Anni. Burde ...

Age of Illusions (1965)

Jancsi is part of a closely knit gang of young engineers. They see the older engineers as mediocre, and have grand ideas about developing new inventions together. With changing living conditions the five friends start to grow apart. At a party Jancsi sudde ...

You (1963)

A playful portrait of a young woman who merrily roams the streets of Budapest. A New Wave love letter in motion. ...

Dialogue (1963)

The film depicts the period between 1945-60 through the life of a communist couple. Barna Judit, just released from a concentration camp and Horváth László, with an illegal past are brought together by the communist movement. They study and make plans t ...

A Theme with Variations (1962)

This film of three parts recalls memories from World War II. The titles of the parts are: Impartially, Terrified and Like a scream. ...

A Hetedik napon (1959)

A young priest visits a barber's shop to get shaved. When he leans back and closes his eyes, the barbers decide to play a prank on him. Instead of a male barber they let a female hairdresser take care of the shaving. When the priest feels her soft fingers ...

Come With Me to the Cinema – The Gregors (2022)

From the 1950s onwards, Erika and Ulrich Gregor brought countless film historical milestones to Berlin and shaped cinema discourse in post-war Germany. A look at the life and work of the couple without whom Arsenal and the Forum wouldn't exist. ...

CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel (2018)

An epic exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave cinema of the 1960s and 70s, structured around a series of conversations with one of its most acclaimed exponents - Closely Observed Trains director Jiří Menzel. ...

To Make a Comedy Is No Fun (2016)

Documentary feature about Czech director Jiří Menzel, featuring Menzel himself as well as Miloš Forman, Emir Kusturica, István Szabó and others. ...

Franz Antel - Meister der Unterhaltung (2013)

A documentary directed by Wolfgang Liemberger. ...

I Served the King of England (2007)

Prague, Czechoslovakia, during the inter-war period. Jan Dítě, a young and clever waiter who wants to become a millionaire, comes to the conclusion that to achieve his ambitious goal he must be diligent, listen and observe as much as he can, be always di ...

Shem (2004)

Daniel, an arrogant, restless young Londoner is bored with his meaningless life. He seeks sympathy from his old Jewish grandmother, who sends him on a mission to Europe to find the grave of her father who disappeared during World War II. ...

Pictures of Europe (1990)

What makes European cinema so special? Find out in Paul Joyce's feature-length documentary, Pictures of Europe, which examines the differences between American independent and Hollywood movies and films from European directors. ...

Stand off (1989)

In a border town two sons of the local commander using stolen arms take hostages of eighteen girls in a dormitory, because they want to go West by plane. ...

Mephisto (1981)

A German stage actor finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-WWII Germany. As his associates and friends flee or are ground under by the Nazi terror, the popularity ...