Honeymoons
In the extensive restoration program of Hungarian film heritage led by the National Film Institute of Hungary (NFI), the films of these two filmmakers stand out for their uniqueness. After a few formidable offerings inspired by cinéma vérité, the former turned to a type of cinema influenced by American westerns, to the point of becoming the leader of a subgenre: the Goulash Western. The latter made a handful of magnificent experimental films and a masterpiece: Sinbad.
Preceded by short film Young Love
When the film in a cinema gets torn, an old usherette takes up telling the story of the romantic film, and she, at the audiences request, gives the film a happy ending. (National Film Institute Hungary)
György Szomjas’s Honeymoons reveals the life, habits and motivations of an unusual subculture. A phenomenon trending in Hungary in the 1960s and 70s, so-called digózás, is the target of the camera. Young women talk about how they do everything to get to know Italian tourists in the hope of obtaining branded Western consumer items, a better life and perhaps even marriage. A defining work of grotesque documentary from the Balázs Béla Studio, this film is a curiosity of the more puritanical socialist morality and the longings of those living in the East entranced by the West. This film brought the fresh young director instant attention. (National Film Institute Hungary)
György Szomjas
György Szomjas was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 20 films from 1965 to 2021. His 1983 film Light Physical Injuries was entered into the Berlin International Film Festival. He is the father of the Hungarian Ostern, the Goulash Western. In the 1970s, he directed two osterns about Hungarian rascals, The Wind Blows Under Your Feet (1976), and Wrong-Doers (1979).
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