Best Hungarian documentary movies

Queen: Hungarian Rhapsody - Live in Budapest '86 (2012)

On 27th July 1986, British stadium rock band Queen broke new ground by playing for the first time in Hungary, a country which was still under a communist dictatorship behind the Iron Curtain.

THEVR10: A dokumentumfilm (2023)

The Geneva Mechanism: A Ghost Movie (2024)

The long dead ghosts of celluloid are coming back to haunt the digital space.

Return to Epipo (2020)

25 years after spending their holidays at a summer camp in 1980s socialist Hungary, the campers confont the demons of the past.

Once Upon a Time a Videotheque (2018)

A dearly departed VHS rental chain gets a bittersweet send-off in this documentary featuring testimonials from employees and film lovers.

The Kunság - The Secret Life of the Hungarian Puszta (2016)

At first glance, it's just like other European plains. Once the wind and rivers worked on it, today it bears the signs of human activity. The Hungarian Puszta is different nonetheless: it lives a secret life where always happens something. Big birds hustle and push each other, the traffic of the white, salty lakes competes that of major airports, antlers clash like swords, and an owl claps on all this. The most peculiar creature is the protagonist itself. The golden jackal once lived here, but it vanished for decades because of constant persecution. But this four-legged predator, defying the danger, has returned and founded a family. The new pack howls in the frosty night: "This is our land!"

A Woman Captured (2017)

A Woman Captured is about Marish, a 52-year-old Hungarian woman who has been serving a family for a decade, working 20 hours a day without getting paid. Her ID was taken from her by her oppressors and she's not allowed to leave the house without permission. Treated like an animal,she only gets leftovers to eat and no bed to sleep in. Marish spends the days with fear in her heart, but dreaming of getting her life back. The film follows Marish’s heroic journey back to freedom.⠀

Soul Exodus (2016)

The story of five secretive characters, told with Klezmer music. Five 21st century young and not so young men someplace in the world. They are musicians in search for someone and something which might have been born in their imagination. Once upon a time in the beginning of the 20th century there lived a Klezmer musician and storyteller Prince Nazaroff. Many people don’t believe he ever existed, but these five do. They have imagined him, and imagination can be stronger than reality. To this day, Nazaroff lives in them. They can’t except that something could disappear forever. They call themselves ‘The Brothers Nazaroff’. A deeply emotional story told through Klezmer music about identity, emigration, inner emigration, brothers and godbrothers, religion and belief, faith and disbelief. A modern story about our strange world we live in.

Hogyan csináljunk rossz filmet (2023)

Négy évszak a magyar pusztán (2016)

The Puszta is a seemingly less diverse part of the Hungarian Alföld, but it's actually teeming with natural wonders. The treeless plain was developed from a forested plain, and it's one of the last in the Carpathian Basin. Some of its plant and animal species are considered European rarities.

Forbidden Zone - Wildlife on the Battlefield (2017)

Not far from Budapest, in the outskirts of Táborfalva, a board stops the arriving: "Keep out! Entry is dangerous and forbidden!" The Forbidden Zone starts here, the second biggest shooting and drill ground in Hungary, where military field exercises have been performed for one and a half century. In spite of the danger and prohibition, the area is densely populated. Many plant and animals species live their secret lives here, some of them being rare creatures that almost completely disappeared from the cultivated parts of the Hungarian Alföld. They are protected by weapons...

Testépítés feketén-fehéren (2015)

Land of Waters: Created by Man, Overtaken by Nature (2022)

Throughout history, Hungary's waters have changed almost beyond recognition. Our swamplands have been replaced by reservoirs and fish ponds, and our largest floodplain is now an arid lowland wilderness. Today, 75% of our lakes are artificial and 90% of our floodplains are gone. But wildlife has had to adapt to this changing world or face extinction. Surprisingly, our artificial lakes provide the last refuge for some rare aquatic ecosystems and our former floodplains provide temporary shelter for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds during the winter. But this world is no longer governed by nature, but by man. In this new nature documentary from the creators of the highly successful Where Rivers Run Wild: Aqua Hungarica, the man-made aquatic world is revealed in stunning new images. From the crane migration in the Hortobágy National Park to the hidden labyrinths of Lake Tisza, the winter marshes of the Hungarian Great Plains and the jellyfish hovering in crystal clear mine lakes.

Once a Chicken (2015)

Adaptation of Moholy-Nagy's unrealised Once a Chicken, made with the students at Béla Tarr's film factory.

Napozz Holddal - A Kispálfilm (2010)

With an intimate look into the band's life, this concert documentary is about the farewell concert of cult Hungarian band 'Kispál és a borz'.

Magyar hangja… (2022)

The Art of Dubbing…, a documentary about Hungarian dubbing, was made with the participation of dozens of well-known actors and professionals working in the field. The documentary is a fitting tribute to the legendary Hungarian dubbing actors and actresses and the dubbing profession. The film also talks about the origins, golden age, present and possible future of Hungarian dubbing.

Born in Auschwitz (2019)

The untold story of a Jewish baby who was born in the death camp before the liberation and survived. An extraordinary journey of the second and third generation, breaking the cycle of trauma to free themselves from Auschwitz - forever.

Szigetköz - The Inland Delta of the River Danube (2013)

We're at Hungary's western gateway. The landscape is ruled by the representatives of economy: motorways, cities, industrial parks, wind farms, as well as the hydroelectric power plant commissioned exactly 20 years ago. But something hides among them. A giant alluvial fan with small, island-like villages, forests, wetland fields, reed beds, all of which are encircled by countless small and big watercourses and prongs. This inland delta is unique in Europe, and was created by the Danube coming out of the mountains. But today the river is not as free to move as once. Seeing the grip of the built environment, the question arises: Can the wildlife retain its former richness and beauty?

Balaton Method (2015)

A music documentary about Hungarian musicians creating music around lake Balaton. The feature film continuation of the acclaimed Kodály Method (2011) videos.

The Fallen (1985)

The documentary was shot in the prison for juvenile delinquents in Hungary. It does not aim at judging whether the perpetrators were convicted rightly or not but, given the burden they carry, how they can reintegrate into society after they are released.

Jack Jack - The real rockstar dies on the first band practice (2008)

A rockumentary about four Hungarian musician: Mester Tamás, Papp Szabi, Ganxsta Zolee and Tóth Tibi. They moved in together for seven weeks to record an album, put together a concert while they were recorded by the crew who made a music documentary film of the whole work.

Balaton retró (2007)

Scenes from holiday life at Lake Balaton in Hungary during the communism.

Divas (2021)

Szani, Tina and Emese: or as they call themselves, the Divas are three twenty-year-old girls who can talk for hours about makeup, clothes, or profile pictures. Máté, a young director, enters the scene, following them with his camera until their graduation, to find out what is hidden behind their perfect makeup. Meanwhile they learn from each other, they all make a step towards adulthood.

Nine Month War (2018)

Jani (24) lives in a small town in Western Ukraine in the Hungarian minority. He is an only child and his father died five years ago. He is fed up with the boring life in his town and drowning in the love of Erzsike (45), his mother. He gets his draft-call from the Ukrainian National Guard, to fight the separatist. He could sneak out of the country to escape the military service just like his fellows did, but instead he chooses to go to the war 1,500 km away – why? He is not a patriot. He is not even Ukrainian. Combining visuals of cinema verité and mobile footage of war, Jani’s coming-of-age story unfolds throughout the nine months of military service and a few months after discharge.

545 days - Prime Minister of the regime change (2019)

Miklós Németh was one of Hungary's most popular politicians at the time of the regime change, and decades later, many encouraged him to come back and become prime minister again. But he withdrew. And not only from public life, but also from the public. However, 30 years after the declaration of the republic, he made an exception with the RTL Club and said yes to our request. He shared his personal memories in front of the camera, talked about successes and failures as well. From the interviews with him, the XXI. 20th century viewers could already see details, for example, about the dismantling of the Iron Curtain or the release of the East Germans. From the documentary 545 Days _ The Prime Minister of the Regime Change, we show from his point of view,

Budapest Retro 2. (2003)

Wild Hungary – A Water Wonderland (2011)

The recurring protagonists of the movie is an osprey family and a young otter. Through their story, the animals living in the wetlands of the Carpathian Basin and their rarely seen behaviour are presented. Deers, Hungarian grey cattle, asps, catfish, bee-eaters, hooded crows appear in the movie, as well as places like the backwaters of the Tisza River, the Danube and its tributaries, the Hortobágy, the Balaton and the Gemenc Forest. The movie presents one year of the animals living the wetlands and floodplain forests, from winter to next summer. A nature documentary about the lands, fauna and nature-related traditions of Hungary.

A Man-Made Paradise (2023)

The Tisza has meandered through the Great Plain for thousands of years. Ever since man first appeared on its banks, he has been trying to put the blonde river at his service. He has drunk its water, irrigated it, cut it up and levelled it. And 50 years ago he stopped it to turn it into a big reservoir. Little did he know then that his work would conjure up the world of the ancient Tisza. Thanks to the river’s waters, a unique ecosystem has been created. Man built it, nature built it. Thus was created a man-made paradise: the Tisza Lake. The narrator of the film, Dimitry Ljasuk, takes the viewer by the hand and shows, through all 4 seasons, what this special place has become over the decades. Millions of special birds and fish have settled here, and the dense vegetation has painted the banks of the blonde river green. Today, wild meanders, black-water inland lakes, labyrinths of reeds and thousands of islands are reminiscent of the ancient Tisza.

Pécsi szál (2019)

Elhallgatott gyalázat (2013)