Szatmári Szilva Heads East: The Hungarian Plum Set To Conquer Japan

via https://www.agrarszektor.hu/

Szatmári szilva lekvár, or Szatmári plum jam, is a product that falls into the category known as ‘Hungaricum,’ or, things that have a strong national Hungarian identity. Paprika from around Szeged, and Bikavér, or Bull’s Blood wine, are other examples. Szatmári plum jam originates in historically Hungarian Transylvania. The town of Szatmár in Romanian is Satu Mare. Szatmár is also a county in Hungary. Close to each other geographically, both offer Szatmár plum jams.

The tradition of plum-jam making in the Szatmár region dates back hundreds of years. The special plums are known for being both small and packed with flavour, making them popular for use in the Hungarian fruit brandy pálinka, as well as the famous Szatmár jam. It’s the jam that has taken the interest of a Japanese importer, who has ordered a ton of the product after discovering it at the Foodex Japanese food industry exhibition for the first time in 2019.

Plums are popular fruit in Japan, but there is as of yet no jam similar to the rich Szatmári plum jam in the country. Nor are there many plum jams anywhere much like the Szatmári plum: the jam is cooked over a long period of time — sometimes days — until it has a dense consistency and flavour some compare to a rich chocolate paste. Its uniqueness is also attributed to the method by which it is cooked: using ‘dry preservation’ then cooking in a copper cauldron. The sweetness comes from the plum itself: traditionally there is no sugar added to the jams.

With their love of delicate pastries, we can only imagine what the Japanese will make of it when they try szilva gömböc, or famous—and delicious—Hungarian plum dumplings. As for the pálinka, we are keeping it for ourselves.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Hungary's Oscar Nomination: “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time"

In the reent years, Hungary has made a strong showing in the Best International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards, with On Body and Soul making the final round, and Son of Saul winning the statue. This year’s official nomination was announced earlier this month: director Lili Horvath’s drama Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.

Due to the pandemic, the film has had a quieter opening than other recently lauded Hungarian films, but has done well on the virtual festival circuit, winning multiple international awards. According to Hungarianinsider.com, “The film was screened with great success at the end of the summer at the Venice and then Toronto film festivals. In Antalya, Natasa Stork won the Best Actress award, and in Warsaw, the film was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize by the jury of the International Federation of Film Critics. She also won the grand prize “Gold Hugo” (Arany Hugó) at the longest-running festival in Chicago and returned home with three trophies from the highly prestigious Valladolid Film Festival in Spain. The film, set on the border of reality and imagination, won the Best Feature Film Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival as well.”

Rogerebert.com, in a glowing review, summarises the film as such: “Exemplary neurosurgeon Márta Vizy (Natasa Stork), for whom reality is increasingly becoming elusive, flies back home to Hungary from the U.S. after 20 years. Her return isn't prompted by a longing for homeland or even family, so much as a love pact she made with a fellow Hungarian doctor named János (Viktor Bodó) after they met and fell in love at a convention in New Jersey. The deal was to meet at Liberty Bridge in Budapest a month later. She kept the promise, he didn't. Instead of coming to terms with the ill-advised impulse behind traveling half the world for a spontaneous rendezvous with a stranger, Márta searches for János, only to learn he doesn’t recognize her.”

Natasa Stork

Reviews elsewhere, including in the New York Times, have for the most part been enviable. Daily Variety wrote: “Slippery, supple and sinuous, Hungarian director Lili Horvát’s deliciously reworked psychological noir is a spiral staircase, polished to a glossy shine, down which unreliable motivations, self-delusions and romantic obsessions tumble in gorgeous 35mm.” It goes on to praise — as many other publications have — the work of DP Róbert Maly. “The mood of ‘Preparations…’ is established by DP Róbert Maly’s striking 35mm cinematography, with its warm grain and textural response to color.”

This is only Horvát’s second feature. Her first, Szerdai Gyerek (The Wednesday Child) also performed well, winning awards at Karlovy Vary and multiple other festivals. Only time will tell if '“Preparations…” will have Oscar success. Either way, the film is a rare crowd-pleaser that was also embraced by critics. The Oscar winners will be revealed at the presentation ceremony on April 25 in Los Angeles.

Below, find the trailer for Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time in Hungarian with English language subtitles.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Hungarians in Hollywood: Steven Bognar and "American Factory"

Screenshot via Youtube

It’s not news that there are deep Hungarian roots running through Hollywood: from William Fox, the founder of 20th Century Fox, up to Jaimie Lee Curtis. But beyond the glitz of movie stars and feature films, Hungarians have also found success in the prestigious world of documentary filmmaking. You need only look as far as last year’s Oscars, where the son of Hungarian immigrants won Best Documentary Feature, along with his wife, Julia Reichert, for "American Factory.”

Like many Hungarians, Bognar’s immigrant parents found their way to the Midwest of the United States, first to Milwaukee and then Ohio, where Bognar’s late father, Bela J. Bognar, was a Professor at Wright State University. (He was known as ‘Professor Paprika’ to his students.)

Steven Bognar’s first feature length documentary, “Personal Belongings,” relates his father’s story: of his life in Hungary and the travails of World War II. “American Factory”, on the other hand, focuses on a General Motors factory in Moraine, Ohio, that was subsequently bought by the Chinese. According to The Atlantic: In 2014, Fuyao bought part of a closed General Motors assembly plant in Ohio and created thousands of jobs, revitalizing a local industrial sector that had fallen on desperately hard times when GM left town during the 2008 recession. American Factory charts the wave of exultation that greeted the arrival of Fuyao, followed by culture clashes, growing pains, and eventually forms of internal and external pushback that had been largely unknown to the company. “

The film struck a chord with viewers who are growing suspicious of the American Dream and ‘late-stage’ capitalism. The Atlantic went on to describe it as ‘captivating.’ Indeed, it before it won the Oscar, it won the respect of critics. The New York Times wrote: “American Factory” is political without being self-servingly didactic or strident, connecting the sociopolitical dots intelligently…”

American Factory premiered 2019 Sundance Festival and has been enjoying huge popularity on Netflix. Surprisingly, it was produced by former US president and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama, through their production company, Higher Ground Productions. With another Hungarian twist, the Oscar for Best Feature Length Documentary was presented by Hungarian actor Géza Röhrig, of Son of Saul fame.

Steven Bognar’s latest documentary is 9to5: The Story of a Movement (also made with Reichert), which revolves around an organisation dedicated to ensuring the rights of working women and and their families.

Below find the trailer for American Factory, which is still playing on Netflix.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Way Back Machine: Budapest from Before

Once and a while a video showcasing the beauty and romance of Budapest comes along that is too irresistible not to share. But this one is truly rare: A colorized travel clip from 1938. This is – of course – interwar Budapest, and things were about to change dramatically for the country and city. But as much as they changed, and will continue to change, it is amazing just what has stayed the same. Keep an eye out for gorgeous shots of Parliament, Pest’s shopping boulevards, mineral water spas, the Chain Bridge, the Hotel Gellért and its artificial wave contraption, and the views of the Danube.

Now which was your favorite part? Ours was definitely the whole thing.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Filmed in Hungary: Grizzly II, Revenge

It’s hard to imagine a film that stars a young George Clooney, Charlie Sheen, and Laura Dern would go unfinished for 37 years, but that’s what happened with Grizzly II: Revenge. The partially made film, which was the stuff of Hollywood lore, was finally completed and released this year, after Hungarian producer Suzanne C. Nagy was able to finish the task she started so long ago.

But that’s getting ahead. Grizzly II is the sequel to Grizzly, a surprise smash-hit horror film that capitalized on the trend for deadly clawed and fanged animals, instigated by the film Jaws. For a reason that is still undisclosed in the media — but probably based on Nagy’s Hungarian connections — Grizzly II was shot in Socialist-era Hungary, making it one of the few (only?) Hollywood films to utilise Hungary as a location at that time. Local director André Szöts was called in to helm, a cast of English speaking actors—including Clooney, Sheen, and Dern— was flown over, a 16-foot mechanical grizzly bear/monster was assembled, and history was made.

The plot revolves around a Woodstock-like music festival held in the forrest, where a dangerous ‘devil-bear’ picks off concertgoers before it can be hunted and stopped. The producers actually organized a real rock festival for Hungarian youth, enlisting metal band Nazareth to perform in front of a 50,000 strong crowd.

It’s hard to pin down what went wrong with the production: there were reports of missing funds, of the mechanical bear constantly breaking down, of off-screen pressures from the secret police, that contributed to the film’s abandonment. Along the way, the original writer/director was replaced, as was Vilmos Zsigmond, who was first tipped as cinematographer. Ultimately, it took thirty-something years for a pirated rough cut to start making the rounds among horror afficionados. With much of the film already out there, Nagy had the film re-cut, and additional footage added, so as to make an official release of Grizzly II: Revenge. While the film has not exactly wowed critics, that’s hardly the point.

Though Grizzly II may have rode the coat-tails of films like Jaws and Piranha, it was way ahead of its time in using Hungary as a stand-in for another location: this one being an American national park. Yet, due to circumstances, this bear was trapped behind the Iron Curtain, until now. Nagy can also take some credit for opening avenues between Hollywood and Hungary, as she told film site theringer.com: “There was a hope, a wonderful idea, that the Hungarian film industry was going to be noticeable,” Nagy says of the early ’80s. “[The country] wanted a lot from me. I’d be opening a gate to Hollywood.”

So, as they say, all’s well that ends well.

Enjoy this trailer for Grizzly II: Revenge

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Hungarian Classic Now World Classic: Journey By Moonlight Seduces Literati

Antal Szerb’s novel Journey By Moonlight is not be regarded by many to be Hungary’s greatest novel. It’s not the most erudite, decorated, or well known. But it is the favorite of any number of Hungarian romantics, and increasingly, of foreigners who came to the book in translation. While the British have been enjoying the Len Rix translation for many years, the novel was only released in America a few years back, by the ultra prestigious New York Review of Books.

It’s hard to overstate the effect Journey By Moonlight has on a certain type of reader (the same sort who obsess over The Secret History, or Master and Margarita). In its day, back in its day (published in 1937) it was rumoured to have incited more than one suicide.

The story follows a young man named Mihály on his honeymoon and eventual abandonment of his wife Erzsi, when the ghosts, both literal and figurative, of his past surface in locations across Italy. With its morbid, magnetic, and simultaneous attractions to love and death, Journey by Moonlight is easily compared to Death in Venice. But Journey by Moonlight is more pastoral, bubbling over with sticky sweet, but ultimately fatal nostalgia for youth and lost love; it actually has a lot in common with Haruki Murakami’s South of the Border West of the Sun.

Perhaps Journey by Moonlight has never been fully embraced as Hungary’s greatest novel because it was not based in Hungary. Antal Szerb was truly a novelist of the world, setting his first effort The Pendragon Legend in England, Journey by Moonlight in Italy, and Oliver VII in an imaginary European country. Unlike other Hungarian writers, his love of country was never expressed through meditations on Hungarian society, or via revolutionary poetry. Much like his stories, his patriotism was somehow not bound to such terrestrial conventions. A lot of good his subtlety did him; as an ethnic Jew, he was forced by the Hungarian facist Arrow Cross into a labor camp in 1944. Antal Szerb died before age 45, at the hands of his own countrymen. It should be pointed out that Szerb was given many chances to emigrate, even while he was enduring the degradations of labor camp, but he refused to leave his family and fellow writers behind. Unlike his protagonist, he never surrendered his ideals in the face of an uncaring and brutal world. He died the quiet death of an unsung hero. The world of literature is vastly richer for his brief journey through its midst.

Antal Szerb via Wikipedia

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Krampus: The Christmas Devil

It’s that time of year again, when everybody’s favorite Christmas celebrity makes house-calls to special children. We are, of course, not talking about St. Nick; that would be too obvious. Rather, it is time to celebrate the Krampus: Santa’s grotesque strong man. In North America, Santa leaves coal in naughty children’s stockings. In Central Europe,  St. Nick is too busy passing out gifts to bother with his ‘naughty’ list.  He  employs a devilish little character known as ‘Krampus’ to do his dirty work. Krampus, who looks something like a sooty demon, invades homes, kidnaps children who were ‘naughty’, stuffs them in his bag and steals them away to a fiery neither world below, never to be seen again. Santa’s elf, he is not.

The Krampus, while an important aspect of Christmas in Hungary, actually originates in the more Germanic climes near the Alps. He is especially popular in Austria, where many cities and towns hold yearly parades of men dressed in Krampus costume, wielding gilded switches with which to swat the behind of anybody who stands too close. Traditionally, Krampus is represented by a devil-like mask, long horns, a dangling lizard tongue, and cloven hooves.  Believed to a hold-over of the region’s Pagan past, Halloween can also be traced to the same rural tradition of animal and monster masks.

Krampus has long been a regular tradition in Central Europe (showing up on December 6th), but he is beginning to gain exposure in America as well. Recently, Krampus made an appearance on the Colbert Report, the popular political satire show, and Krampus parades have been held in more liberal cities like Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California. Given how anti-septic and commercial most American Christmas traditions have become, it is no surprise that people crave a little darkness and ill-spirit around the holidays. As you will note: December 6th has passed this year, but be sure to be good, or Krampus will have you on his list next time around.

Below find some of the sexier Krampuses (Krampi?) from last year’s Krampus Festival in Munich, Germany.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Filmed in Hollywood: Budapest!

Usually in this space you will find us harping on the fact that Budapest is used as a location to represent so many other cities. But we know of at least one film where Budapest was recreated abroad – on a Hollywood lot, no less. Starring It’s A Wonderful Life actor James Stewart, we are referring, of course, to is the 1940 comedy A Shop Around the Corner.

In the pic, Stewart plays Alfred Kralik, an employee of a Budapest gift shop who doesn’t realize that he is falling in love with his nemesis at the shop via anonymous love letters they send to one another. Why, when the screenplay was written by an American, and the film’s primary players were all American – did they choose Budapest as the setting? It’s because the film is based on the stage play Parfumerie, by Hungarian Miklós Laszló.

If the plot to A Shop Around the Corner sounds familiar, it is because Laszló’s play was used as the basis for two other subsequent films: In the Good Old Summertime, and most recently, the Tom Hanks/ Meg Ryan vehicle You’ve Got Mail. The script was also adapted for the Broadway musical She Loves Me. A contemporary of playwright Ferenc Molnar, Laszló – who was of Jewish extraction – was born in Budapest, but heeded pre-World War II warnings and moved to the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen. He married while there, and worked on numerous film scripts before dying in 1973 in New York City.

It is worth mentioning that the story does take place around Christmas, so it is considered a Christmas film. Though A Shop Around the Corner never had the critical or commercial impact of Stewarts’ Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, it did make Time Magazine’s list of top 100 films.

Here’s a short clip from one of the more lively parts of A Shop Around the Corner. If you look over James Stewart’s shoulder, you can see a street sign in Hungarian: a bit of Hollywood-created Budapest.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Location Spotter: Hortobágy, Hungary's Great Plain

via Wikipedia Commons

If any publication knows about fascinating travel destinations, it’s National Geographic. The magazine recently put together a list of the places their writers most want to visit, once travel restrictions allow. And, while we can’t say it is ‘no surprise’ that Hungary’s great Hortobágy plains, in the form of the Hortobágy National Park, made the list, it does make sense, given all the area has to offer.

Part of the greater area of the Alföld, Hortobágy National Park is a World Heritage Site, covering 800 square kilometers. Seemingly unimpressive — it is flat grasslands — at first sight, it takes a closer look for the area’s true wonders to reveal themselves. For instance, the plain is on the migratory path for many types of birds. The bird watching is amongst the best in the world. According to the article: “Poor soil for farming helped keep Hortobágy’s mosaic of alkaline marshes, meadows, pastures, and loess-steppe vegetation intact. Free from plowing and significant development, this puszta (barren land) flourished. The resulting rich grassland ecosystem, protected since 1973, provides critical habitat for some 340 bird species, including tens of thousands of winged fall migration travelers, such as gray geese and common cranes, that make the park one of central Europe’s best birding locations.”

via Wikipedia Commons

Not wanting for other wildlife, water buffalo roam the plain, and there is a reserve for wild endangered Przewalski horses. The steppe is also famous for its domesticated horses, and the horsemen — called csikós — who ride them. When training to ride for his film The Great Wall, Matt Damon spent time learning from Hungary’s best riders, who have practiced the art of mounted archery for centuries. Moreover, the puli, dogs that helped the csikós, are now world famous. Once near extinction, Hungarian Gray Cattle, are also at home in Hortobágy.

via By self2, CC BY 2.0 at Wikipedia Commons

Hortobágy National Park may indeed be one of the great treasures of Hungary. Due to its pristine grasslands and natural diversity, it’s only a matter of time, and the right conditions, for it to be an international travel destination. At least the people at National Geographic seem to think so.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Hungary's, and Perhaps the World's, First Celebrity Chef: Louis Szathmary

Once there was a celebrity chef who was both known for his prowess in the the kitchen, as well as foresight in utilizing modern technology to increase his brand recognition. This may sound like Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Oliver, but rather we are talking about the Central European granddaddy of celebrity chefs: Louis Szathmary.

If the name Szathmary looks suspiciously Hungarian, that’s because it is. History (or WIkipedia) tells us that he was born on a train that was traveling from the Erdély (Transylvania) to Budapest as his parents rushed to escape the growing conflict between Hungary and Romania during WWI times. Szathmary would be educated in Budapest, earning a PhD in psychology, and fight with Hungary during WWII. It wasn’t until he was in his thirties that he emigrated to the United States, with no knowledge of English and 1.10 dollars in his pocket.

Eventually finding work for food manufacturer Armour/Stouffers, he helped pioneer methods for food storage, like flash freezing, and boil-in bags. As the company was based in Chicago, that’s where Szathmary elected to open his first restaurant, once he was ready. The Bakery, a Hungarian and Continental restaurant, quickly became legendary in a city filled with restaurants, and Szathmary became a local authority, writing a food column for Chicago’s biggest paper, the Chicago Sun Times. We’re not saying Gordon Ramsey stole his famous individual Beef Wellington recipe from Szathmary, but the Hungarian chef was the one to popularize the dish at The Bakery.

A highly educated and bookish man, Szathmary was said to have a library of 45,000 books, most of them cookbooks. He went on to write five cookbooks of his own, many still considered classics in the field. But like any celebrity chef, it’s via television that he is best known. Over 150 television appearances made him famous across America, necessitating the employment of three secretaries to keep up with his fan mail.

Sadly, the chef passed away in 1996. His fame in Hungary is limited, but in the States his cookbooks are still highly regarded, and the Bakery is still remembered. Not bad for a kid whose hometown was a train compartment.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Lake Balaton Wins By Landslide as Best Lake In Europe

via Wikipedia Commons by txd - originally posted to Flickr as Landscape in Hungary, CC BY 2.0,

Much of the world has had their eyes trained on screens of laptops and televisions in recent days, waiting for the outcome of the US presidential election. With Joe Biden finally pulling out the victory, it’s time to turn our attention to other relevant news: Biden’s connection to Hungary.

While President Elect Biden has no apparent Hungarian roots, Hungary does hold a place in his and his wife’s heart. It surfaced recently that the couple spent their honeymoon at Lake Balaton, Hungary’s massive, tranquil, and beautiful lake.

The story goes that Hungarian-American politician Tom Lantos (now deceased) was working with Biden in Washington, so many years ago, when the two struck up a friendship. It was Lantos who suggested the Hungarian destination of Lake Balaton for Biden and his new wife Jill. Lantos went so far as to accompany the Bidens on their trip, acting as tour guide. According the the Hungarian Spectrum:

“Tom Lantos organized everything and to Biden’s surprise he announced that he and his wife Annette would accompany the newlyweds. And indeed they went. All four of them. Biden later recalled that Lantos presented Hungary as if he were the CEO of a tourist agency. The best fish can be found in Hungary. Lake Balaton is the nicest lake in the whole world. The bridges across the Danube are the most spectacular in the universe. The world’s most famous scientists, actors, mathematicians, composers, and poets were all Hungarians. Not only Biden but scores of American delegations went to Hungary since and they all heard the same accolades from him.”

If you’ve been to Lake Balaton, you know Lantos is only slightly exaggerating. Known for its wonderful pike/perch, nightlife-friendly south side, and the sophisticated wine regions of its volcanic north, Lake Balaton has something for everybody. The other famous American couple who made Balaton their vacation spot, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, also spoke fondly of their time on the peninsula of Tihany, and for some time, were rumored to be contemplating buying a vacation home there.

Lake Balaton has long been a favorite holiday destination with folks from abroad, from Germans to Russians. For those living locally, no summer is complete without a trip to Balaton. So, should President Biden care to return to revisit his romantic memories, Balaton, while a bit more developed, is still Best Lake for Life, no recount needed.

via Wikipedia Commons By Oldmumus at Hungarian Wikipedia

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Filmed in Budapest: Radioactive

This is the time of year when we’d normally write a horror/pagan/spooky type post. But this year, we’ll leave that for the news. Instead, we’ll take this opportunity to promote a film about internal strength and fortitude, that was, of course, filmed for the most part in Hungary. Radioactive, which was scheduled to be released last summer in theatres, but due to circumstances, was put out digitally, is a film about French scientist Marie Curie, who among other accomplishments, discovered radioactivity, helping to revolutionise physics and chemistry. One wants to paint Curie as an underdog, and indeed she did suffer for being a woman in a male-dominated field, but she also has the distinction of being one of the very few people to win a Nobel Prize twice.

Staring Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie, the production summoned Budapest’s pre-war feel as a stand-in for Curie’s hometown of Paris. The production also traveled to Esztergom to make use of the quaint, romantic exteriors that small city offers. Radioactive was directed by Marjane Satrapi, whose international smash graphic novel Persepolis helped her launch a career in film. The source material for Radioactive was also a graphic novel: Radioactive by Lauren Redniss. The New York Times called the film “thoughtful,” and “very watchable.”

CNN Traveler had a word with Pike about her experience in Budapest, and she had nothing but glowing things to report: “We filmed on Zoltán Utca and transformed it into the most beautiful Parisian street scene, with cafes, flower sellers, horses, and carriages. It is the first time we see the young Marie [in the film] and she is so absorbed in her book that she bumps into Pierre [Curie]. This is their first meeting. We also used the Ethnographic Museum as the Sorbonne University lecture hall where Marie first announces her discovery of radioactivity and the two new elements she and Pierre discovered and named: Radium and Polonium (named after her native Poland). And we shot inside the same building that houses Brody House, which is a bit like Budapest’s answer to Soho House. Like you get in Europe, it’s this wonderful, old building with beautiful apartments with very, very high ceilings. It’s very Parisian. So, we used part of that house to be Marie and Pierre’s apartment.”

Once again, Budapest becomes a master of disguises. Pike went on in the interview to praise the city’s cultural riches, and even found what she called some of the ‘best vegetarian’ food of her life.

As Amazon Studios was in part behind the production (along with StudioCanal UK), it is no surprise that you can stream Radioactive on Amazon. Meanwhile, here’s the trailer.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Hárslevelű : Hungary's complex hidden grape gem

photo by András Kovács, via Wikipedia Commons

As the leaves fall from the trees, and drizzle falls from the sky, poetic minds turn to things of beautiful decay. And there is no better way to rhapsodize about a pretty autumn day than with a glass of Hungarian Hárslevelű in hand. Hárslevelű , for those who don’t know, is one of the varietals that originate in Hungary, like its more famous cousin, Furmint. While it can be found in Germany, where it goes by the name of Lindenblättriger, or in France, where it is known as Feuille de Tilleul , it’s in Hungary where the grape is most warmly embraced.

There is no doubt that the wine it produces has a distinctive flavour: deep, crisp, and botanic. Despite its complexity, it is frequently used as table wine in Hungary, but is also mixed with Furmint grapes to create the famous dessert wines of Tokaj. The connoisseurs of Wikipedia describe the flavour of Hárslevelű as such: “Vinified as a pure varietal dry wine, Hárslevelű is capable of yielding a dense, full-bodied, green-gold wine with an intense aroma of spice, pollen and elderflowers.”

Named for the Linden tree leaf that its own leaves resemble, Hárslevelű is centuries old in these parts. Despite its age, it has yet to earn the respect of a grape like Furmint, or even Olaszrizling, Hungary’s Italian Riesling. Taste Hungary, a wine-tour and purveyor in Hungary, explains why: “Unfortunately, Hárslevelű is also tarred with a brush from Hungary’s socialist past, which doesn’t do anything to further its case. Many people still see the off-dry Debrői Hárslevelű as a reference for the variety. Debrői Hárslevelű is a brand assigned to Debrő in the Eger wine region during the planned economy and synonymous with high yields, poor quality and often added sweetness. To add insult to injury, 15 percent of other varieties, even aromatic ones such as Tramini, can be added to the brew, thus giving Hárslevelű the image of sweet, aromatic plonk.”

All that said, Hárslevelű is hitting a sweet spot, where it is becoming more sought after by wine lovers, taken more seriously by wine-makers, but still has the image of a budget grape, keeping the price reasonable. And, like Furmint, you can practically taste the autumn sun in every sip, even if its a bit clouded over.

Hárslevelű grapes via Monika at Wikipedia Commons

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Location Spotter: Continental Europe's Oldest Metro: the M1

via Wikipedia Commons

With the highly Instagramable new metro line in Budapest — the M4 — the city’s fourth metro line, it is easy to forget that Budapest also has one of the oldest continually functioning metro lines in Europe: the M1, locally known as the Kisföldalatti, or ‘ little underground’. It has the distinction of being the first metro line constructed on continental Europe.

With the construction of Budapest’s most elegant street, Andrássy Avenue around 1872, local politicians saw an opportunity to modernize transportation in the city without damaging the pristine architecture of the streetscape. It would take twenty years for construction of the project to commence in 1894. Two-thousand workers were employed for two years on the project, allowing the M4 to be inaugurated on May 2, 1896 by emperor Franz Joseph. In its initial years, it carried around 35,000 people a year from the head of Andrássy Avenue up to and under the City Park to the City Zoo. Today it transports over 100,000 people annually over the eleven stations, which run a total of 4.1 kilometers.

via Wikipedia Commons

While the trollies have been updated, the platforms have an ‘old world’ pre-war feeling. The exterior entrances are done in ceramic and metal work that echoes the secessionist style of the State Opera House, which it passes along its route. Though the M4 may be the newer and flashier addition to public transport in Budapest (media hog!) it is the M1 that remains a favorite with metro enthusiasts, and an ideal location to convey the ‘modern’ aspirations of old world Europe.

via Wikipedia Commons

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Rainy Sunday: Budapest in the Fall

by By Osvát A, via Wikipedia Commons

After a long, extremely temperate, and well-used summer, autumn again has snuck up on the city, covering us with radiant foliage, gusts of wind, and some chilly, if refreshingly bracing rain. We Love Budapest, the long running news and culture blog, have capably captured the spirit of the city in the rain as part of their video series, Three Minute Budapest. As you can see in the video below, they manage to artfully include shots of the in-between spots in Budapest (tram stops, puddles on the sidewalk) along with blue-chip locations like Parliament, the Danube, and the Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park. Indeed, Budapest is just one of those cites that benefits from being veiled in nature’s offerings, and is just as beautiful covered in snow or rain as it is dappled by the sun. So have a look as see if you don’t agree that damp Budapest can be eerie, romantic, nostalgic, elegant, but never dull.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Meme Streets: A Bucket List for Nicolas Cage in Budapest

photo by Nicolas Gegin, via Wikipedia

Iconic, ironic, and sometimes bionic, actor and Oscar winner Nicolas Cage has been spotted around Budapest, where he is currently shooting his latest film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, in which he plays and actor named Nic Cage. Since he has so much time with himself, we thought we would make a list of things Nicolas, or ‘Nic,’ can do in his off hours. Based on his previous films, here is Nicolas Cage’s Budapest Bucket List.

One of Cage’s early roles was in Francis Ford Coppola’s ill-fated gangster/jazz film The Cotton Club, which centres on the 1930’s Harlem jazz scene. In the film, Cage plays Vincent Dwyer, based on Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll, a NYC mafia hitman. While guns are highly regulated in Hungary, jazz isn’t. You won’t see ‘Bird’ or Chet Baker at the The Budapest Jazz Club—the city’s premier jazz house—but Hungary has a thriving jazz scene, due to the strong tradition of music education in the country. The Budapest Jazz Club a classy joint, and currently still open in the sexiest part of the inner 13th district.

In Gone in Sixty Seconds, Cage plays a street savvy car thief. He only deals in the fastest of cars, thrilling audiences with lengthy chase scenes. While racing in the streets is difficult on the tight, clogged Budapest streets, he can make his way out of town to the Hungaroring, Hungry’s annual Formula One event. Though he missed this year’s race, we are sure he could procure the track for private use. If he wants to lift a Trabant or souped-up Lada to race in, that’s up to him.

Cage won his Best Actor Academy Award for his role as an alcoholic ex film-producer who falls in love with a similarly damaged Vegas hooker, in Leaving Las Vegas. We don’t know much about prostitution, but if he’s looking for a place to down a few drinks, he is in the right city. We recommend he start off easy, at one of Budapest’s classy wine bars, to try some to the best, and best-kept secret, wines on the planet. Personal favourites would be Kadarka, in what was once the ‘Party District’ of the inner 7th, and the hipper, more local wine bar Cintányéros, in the rough and tumble outer 8th district.

In Adaptation, Cage plays a Charlie Kaufman-like screenwriter struggling with the adaptation of The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean’s best-selling novel. Budapest doesn’t have many orchids, but is loaded with enough literary locations to satisfy any writer. Foremost, he may want to contemplate his word choices at The New York Cafe, the famous hangout from the Golden Era of Hungarian writers, in the early 20th century. Ornate and kitschy, one can brood of their next sentence for hours, provided they have the money to pay the bill.

In the National Treasure franchise, Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, a historian charged with tracking down historical artifacts stockpiled by the cultish Freemasons. Hungary is home to few American national treasures, hidden or not. It does, however, have its own—foremost, the ‘Holy Right,’ the mummified hand of king Saint Stephen. For just a few hundred forints, in Budapest’s Basilica, you can activate a light that illuminates the disembodied hand of the saint, canonised in 1083, long before America was colonised.

That should be enough to keep the actor busy, though if he needs more recommendations, we are here, re-watching Wild at Heart, and other Cage-led treasures.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Hungarians in Hollywood: Peter Lorre

Peter Lorre is an actor immediately recognizable to anybody with even the most cursory interest in film history. You know him as the slippery underworld figure in Casablanca who provokes one of the film’s most famous lines by Humphrey Bogart: “I stick my neck out for nobody.” He is equally known for his portrayal as a killer of children in the German in Fritz Lang’s M. In Hollywood, he was again paired up with Humphrey Bogart in the enduring film noir classic The Maltese Falcon. Known for his diabolically reptilian looks and suspicious accent, he was sought after throughout his long career as a character actor ideal for the role of the colorful villain, particularly in war movies. One of his final roles also brought one of his greatest distinctions: Lorre was the first villain in a James Bond film, playing opposite Peter Nelson in Casino Royale.

But, Lorre is on this blog for a reason: and that is because he was born László Löwenstein on 26 June 1904 in Rózsahegy, then part of the Hungo-Austrian Empire, now part of Slovenia. He got his start in German-speaking parts of Europe: Vienna and Berlin, working with both Fritz Lang and Bertolt Brecht. Like many Hungarian Jews who eventually made it big in Hollywood, he fled Europe due to the outbreak of World War II. His first credit is actually as a Japanese in the series Mr. Moto. Typecast as a creepy villain, Lorre was never fully able to break into leading-man roles. Towards the end of his life his career took a downturn and he sustained himself on television parts and guest appearances. Suffering life-long health problems, he became addictid to morphine, which was believed to have brought about his early death in 1964. Actor Vincent Price – whose career took a similar path – read the eulogy at his funeral. All in all, Peter Lorre has over a hundred acting credits, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Not bad for a kid from Rózsahegy.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Filmed in Hungary: Dune's Trailer is Released

via Warner Bros.

We are not the only ones awaiting the remake of Dune, originally shot in 1984 and directed by David Lynch. The eighteen million or so people who viewed the just-released trailer, are all obviously among those curious about the buzz around Dune. It looks to be tapping into the original science fiction series enormous popularity, unlike the original, which was a flop of such colossal proportions that it closed off possibilities of filming the rest of the books in the series by writer Frank Herbert.

But with a lot of talent, enthusiasm, and professional acumen, Dune is back. As we reported before, the remake by Blade Runner 2049 (also shot in Hungary) director Denis Villeneuve was in part shot on sound stages in Hungary. The results, which can be seen in the just released official trailer, are compelling. From this brief but thrilling glimpse, it is apparent that the director is bringing his sleek, noirish style to the film. Where the first Dune was bright as the desert sun, this one is darker, more apocalyptic.

Stars like Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard, and Charlotte Rampling were seen about Budapest during the filming, which was clearly a successful endeavour despite being interrupted by the lockdown in the spring, and then wrapping up in July. Hungary Today reports that additional filming had been undertaken as late as August, only a few weeks ago. Insider film site Deadliner.com is speculating that the film will be ‘epic’. If the trailer is any indication, they are right. It is all promising enough that the second part of Dune is already being planned.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Gábor Szabó: Hungary's Cult/Mainstream Guitarist

Via Wikipedia Commons By © David Redfern

There aren’t many guitarists that virtuoso Carlos Santana takes cues from, but on that short list, perhaps even near to the top, is Hungarian-born Gábor Szabó. Szabó, while held in great esteem by jazz musicians and learned rock guitarists, never really found his way to the mainstream. Despite this, his influence has been deeply felt throughout the decades since his death in 1982.

Born in Budapest in 1936, he would move to the United States twenty years later due to the Hungarian revolution. There, he studied at Boston’s famous Berklee College of Music. It wasn’t long before he started making a name for himself on the US jazz scene with his style, which is described as ‘moderate avant-gardism.’

His rock influenced style found many fans in the counter-culture and rock community of the 1960s. It was Carlos Santana who first covered Szabó, making his tune “Gypsy Queen” a hit in the States, and in the process winning the Santana a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, while reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the song was combined with “Black Magic Woman” by Peter Green). The mix of Hungarian folk, jazz, and Latin rhythms was a staple at Santana concerts.

According to the Budapest Business Journal: “Santana adored Szabó’s work, calling it “fantastic, spellbinding music.” It symbolized for Santana what was happening in the mid-1960s. The Beatles were, as Santana put it, “starting to interject a deeper thought” into pop. By then, Szabó was already experimenting with playing intelligent pop songs like Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” so, Santana said, “it was all merging without becoming confusion, fusing, all coming together very naturally.” Santana saw Szabó as being on a par with Jimi Hendrix, high praise indeed, especially in his innovative use of feedback. The difference was that, where Hendrix deployed feedback in a wild, psychedelic fashion, Szabó used it like a drone, because he was more into Indian music.”

Szabó first returned to Hungary in 1974, where he played with local jazz luminaries. Unfortunately the guitarist died young, at age 45, in 1982, from internal organ ailments. If there is any consolation here, it is that he died back home, in Budapest.

But the musician’s influence is still felt. For instance, the Hungarian Jazz Association honoured Szabó by naming a prize after him. In terms of all-time great jazz guitarists, Discovermusic.com has Szabó listed as the 14th greatest.

Below is Gábor Szabó’s peppy, “Gypsy Queen”. While informed by his American schooling, we think the Hungarian folk influences are easy to spot, and one of the reasons this guitarist and his music are so beloved.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.

Auto-Recall: Vauxhall Plays Hide and Seek in Budapest

Via Wikipedia Commons, photo by Christo

Turbulent times evoke different feeling in different people. While most go about their daily business, others fall back into creature comforts like food, libations, and Netflix. Some read. And still others retreat into nostalgia: give in to the media of less complicated times.

So, if this old advert for Vauxhall’s compact auto called the Corsa tugs at your heartstrings, you may be in the later category. Here we can indulge in nostalgia with so many layers it could be a cake. Foremost, the car is a niche favorite with drivers. But for those who are more familiar with local scenery, it provides a small nostalgic thrill to see that the ad revels in Budapest’s decrepit side. This was 2001, before EU and money from real estate developers overtook the city-wide renovation the facades of the elegant apartment blocks of Pest. The graffiti, the crumbling exposed brick, the colorlessness — despite how all this sounds — did give the city a certain romantic charm, the way a bouquet of dried roses can be as alluring as fresh-cut flowers. Fans of Brutalist architecture know what we are talking about. Of course, half the point of the monochrome scenery is to make the colorful little cars pop as they navigate portions of Budapest cars don’t normally go, in their game of ‘hide and seek’ (including a trash removal container and, the Danube).

Keen connoisseurs of culture will also note that the soundtrack is the song “Sensitive Touch” by English indie icons The Fall. This was from the era when advertising found pop and punk music to be the most effective soundtrack to car adverts, most memorably exemplified by Sting’s song “Desert Rose” in Jaguar ads.

We’d love to find a connection the Fall have to Budapest, but outside of their sense of pride in being different, there might just not be one. But that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying this old advert and basking in the warm golden rays of the past. The cars are hidden, but enjoyment is where you find it.

Flatpack Films has many years of experience dedicated to offering expert servicing. It has brought the best of Hungary to countless brands, agencies, and production companies through its unique locations, exceptionally skilled crews, top of the line equipment and technical solutions. Backed by an impeccable track record, Flatpack Films has worked with world-class clients including Samsung, Samsonite, Toyota, Braun, Chivas Regal and many more - bringing their projects to life through a highly bespoke approach.