Hungary Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Robbie Williams has shared that he happened to pull the same fan from out of the crowd at a gig in Budapest as he did 20 years ago.The pop star was performing at the Papp László Sportaréna in Hungary on Tuesday (March 14) when he called up the fan on stage.Williams wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of the pair: “So this happened two nights ago in Budapest – I chose someone from the audience to come down to the front and, amazingly, I chose the same guy that I picked out from the audience in Budapest 20 years ago! The odds of that happening? 174,240,000 to 1.”In the post he included a photo of him next to the fan, taken two decades ago. “Nice to see you again, sir.

Are you ready for the next F1 race this weekend?

Naman Ramachandran Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based RTL Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, climbed 9% to a record €7.2 billion ($7.6 billion) for the financial year 2022. However, the company’s EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortization) slid 6% to €1.08 billion, down from €1.15 billion in 2021. RTL attributes this to higher streaming start-up losses and lower TV advertising revenue at RTL Deutschland, and the exits of RTL Belgium and Groupe M6. These effects were partly offset by record adjusted EBITA contributions from RTL Nederland and Fremantle, RTL said. The RTL Group has interests in 56 television channels, nine streaming services and 36 radio stations. The group’s content business, Fremantle, is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, including “American Idol,” “Britain’s Got Talent” and “The X Factor.” 

Sziget Festival, including Mumford & Sons, Lorde and Macklemore.Announced today (March 14), the new additions will be performing at the festival between August 10 and August 15.Regarded by the promoters as “Europe’s biggest and most diverse festival”, the event will take place on the Island of Freedom in Budapest, Hungary. Tickets are available for purchase now, with options including six-day passes and three-day passes on offer.This second wave of headliners will join the impressive group of previously-announced artists on the main stage, including Billie Eilish, David Guetta, Florence + The Machine and Imagine Dragons.Over 30 other artists have also been added to the line-up, including Bonobo, Loyle Carner, Tale Of Us and Sleaford Mods.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV fest, and German film-TV powerhouse Beta Group has revealed the 10 projects in the first edition of Seriesmakers, unveiling what must be one of the most talent-packed project lineups at any festival, film or TV, in 2023, A mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut, Series Mania features in development drama series from “Compartment No 6’s” Juho Kuosmanen, ‘Bang Gang’s’ Eva Husson and “Birds of a Passage’s” Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego. Also in the mix is “Amigas,” the first TV project of Beatriz Seigner (“Los Silencios”), one of Brazil’s foremost young movie directors, “The Invisible Ink,” teaming Cannes best first feature winner César Díaz (“Our Mothers”)and New Uruguay Cinema founding father Fernando Epstein; and Indian arthouse filmmaker Pushpendra Singh, who scored with Berlin Encounters’ title “The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs.”

Guy Lodge Film Critic Nearly 125 years after her assassination, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria — or Sisi to her enduring cultists — continues to inspire a veritable industry of portraiture in Europe: In the last year alone, a novel, two TV series (one of them a glossy Netflix affair) and two feature films have been dedicated to the tightly corseted royal icon. Viewers outside the Continental sphere of Sisi-mania may only have registered one of those films, Marie Kreutzer’s chic, subversive anti-biopic “Corsage,” which might make the second, German director Frauke Finsterwalder’s lush, irreverent “Sisi & I,” seem to them a too-soon spare — coincidentally repeating several tricks from Kreutzer’s anachronistic playbook with its modern feminist inflections, contemporary soundtrack cues and sensational fashions, albeit with plenty of its own panache.

Marta Balaga The producers of Hollywood blockbusters and arthouse films alike are on the lookout for the most cost-efficient locations. Recent examples include several of the year’s Oscar nominees, from “Aftersun,” which shot in Turkey; “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” which went to Budapest; to “Elvis,” in Australia. “Budapest offered an affordable alternative to both London and Paris,” says Jonathan Halperyn, managing director at Budapest-based Hero Squared and a co-producer on the film. “Hungary often comes up as a shooting destination when there is a budget crunch.” He adds: “We applied for co-production status and support from the National Film Institute of Hungary during the COVID hiatus, and by the end of 2020, we were up and running. This is the kind of flexibility we have become known for.”

Tara Karajica In “Narrow Path to Happiness,” Hungarian director Kata Oláh follows a young gay Romani couple from a remote village in Hungary whose dream it is to make a musical based on their lives. Just as the Hungarian government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and hostile toward LGBTQ+ people, they move to the capital. The film played in the International Competition at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival this week. The younger protagonist, Lénárd Váradi, who was 16 years old at the time, reached out to the National Film Institute in Hungary, asking for contacts and looking for a producer who would help them apply for a script development grant. Oláh, who also edited the film, says she couldn’t believe it. “I thought somebody was joking! It cannot be real! So, I said, ‘Sure, let’s meet.’ And then, we met and I fell in love with them and said: ‘You know, it doesn’t work like that; we can’t just apply for a script grant. But I will start to follow you and I will make a documentary about how you are trying to achieve your dream.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Autlook Filmsales has sold “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” which won the directing award for Anna Hints in the World Cinema Documentary section at Sundance, to more than 20 territories in North America, Europe and Australia. Deals are confirmed with Neue Visionen in Germany, Trigon in Switzerland, Against Gravity in Poland, Fidalgo in Norway, Ost For Paradise in Denmark, Vedetta in Benelux, Filmtrade in Greece and Cyprus, FilmIn in Spain, Alambique in Portugal, Filmladen in Austria, Pasaka Films in Lithuania, Artcam in Czech Rep. and Slovak Rep., Best Film in Latvia, Mozinet in Hungary, and Madman in Australia and New Zealand. The rights in U.S. have been picked up by Greenwich Entertainment and in Canada by Sherry Media Group. The theatrical release in Estonia is by ACME Film.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor This article first appeared as part of Jenelle Riley’s Acting Up newsletter – to subscribe for early content and weekly updates on all things acting, visit the Acting Up signup page. Sometimes due to article lengths or just time, there are some fun tales from interviews and Q&As that don’t make their way into stories. So I’ve decided to include a round-up here. Enjoy! The Accent in “Tár” Has Surprising Origins If you’re not already aware, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation is a non-profit org that provides several resources and emergency assistance to SAG-AFTRA artists. It also hosts fantastic Q&As that really dive deep into the acting process and for the recent SAG Awards, organizers hosted several panels with contenders in different categories. I was honored to moderate a few, including one for the lead female actor in a film with nominees Ana de Armas (“Blonde”), Cate Blanchett (“Tár”), Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”) and Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once).”

Jamie Lee Curtis is spilling the deets on her SAG Awards kiss with Michelle Yeoh. Curtis took home the trophy for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” during the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards last Sunday. Before taking the stage to the delight of the audience, Curtis grabbed her co-star and planted a big kiss on her.

Jamie Lee Curtis is spilling the deets on her SAG Awards kiss with Michelle Yeoh. Curtis took home the trophy for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for her role in during the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards last Sunday. Before taking the stage to the delight of the audience, Curtis grabbed her co-star and planted a big kiss on her.ET's Will Marfuggi spoke to the  actress at the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards Saturday where she said she had «no idea» she kissed Yeoh in what has now become a viral awards season moment.«I didn't know I actually kissed Michelle until they showed me,» Curtis revealed. «I'm telling you, the word shocked — you people, you must think we all think we're gonna win things.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sony Pictures Classics has bought “The Teachers’ Lounge,” Ilker Çatak’s drama which world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, for North America, Latin America and Eastern Europe (excluding Hungary). “The Teachers’ Lounge” marks the fourth feature from Çatak, who co-wrote the screenplay with Johannes Duncker. The movie played in the Panorama section and won the Europa Cinemas Label award for Best European film, as well as the CICAE Arthouse Cinema Award. Produced by Ingo Fliess and shot by award-winning cinematographer Judith Kaufmann (“Corsage”), “The Teachers’ Lounge” stars Leonine Benesch (“The Crown”), Michael Klammer, Rafael Stachowiak, and Eva Löbau.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up all rights in North America, Latin America and European Europe (excluding Hungary) to the Ilker Çatak drama The Teachers’ Lounge, which won both the Europa Cinemas Label award and the CICAE Arthouse Cinema award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Tara Karajica In Ralph Arlyck’s “I Like It Here” – his first film in 18 years – the U.S. documentary filmmaker reflects on his life while spending time with neighbors, friends, colleagues, children and grandchildren, and at the same time making peace with the physical and emotional obstacles of growing old, and pondering on the serenity and fulfilment that come with entering one’s final years. The film plays in the International Competition at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival on March 10. At first, Arlyck thought he would make a film about his neighbor Ernie, a Hungarian hermit who lived north of his farm, but “it quickly became clear that he wasn’t going to go for that,” he tells Variety. “At that point, I realized that it really wasn’t Ernie that was gnawing at me. It was what we all confront: aging and these questions that become very prominent in front of your face. You’re getting older and you can’t do what you used to do. You’re gonna die… All these questions. I really realized that’s what I wanted to make a film about.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Match Factory has unveiled a slew of deals for German director Christian Petzold’s Berlin Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner Afire.

Monday night's episode of , fans got a peek at the drama ahead, including the week where Zach Shallcross and his final three women will get the chance to spend a night totally alone.Before fans look ahead to Fantasy Suites, though, more of the journey is set to unfold. Next week, the group will head to Budapest, Hungary, where Zach will decide which four hometowns he'll visit.«I've got strong feelings for all of these women,» Zach admits to the cameras, before reuniting with Greer, who's been absent since testing positive due to COVID-19.While Gabi reveals that she's ready to introduce the tech executive to her family, Kat and Charity seem to be questioning things, with the former struggling with «uncertainty» and the latter telling Zach, «It's sometimes hard for me to trust that I'm making the right choices.» Something must not go right, as Zach is seen breaking down in dramatic fashion.After Hometowns, when the Fantasy Suites do roll around, Zach drops a bombshell on host Jesse Palmer.«This week is viewed as 'sex week,'» Zach says.

Jamie Lee Curtis is keeping her late parents close to her heart.

Operation Petticoat,” she said. “Which was based on a movie that my father, Tony Curtis (nepo baby) starred in.”“I was fired from that TV show, a year later, and I thought my life was over,” she added.“If I hadn’t been fired from Operation Petticoat, I would have never had the opportunity to audition for a little tiny, no-budget horror movie called Halloween.”In her acceptance speech for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Jamie Lee Curtis went on: “I’m wearing the wedding ring that my father gave my mother.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent LevelK has boarded “Adventures in the Land of Asha,” a Canadian family film which marks the feature debut of Sophie Farkas Bolla. The film is produced by Hany Ouichou (“I’ll End Up in Jail”) and Kim O’Bomsawin (“Je m’appelle humain”). It will have its world premiere at Montreal International Children’s Film Festival and its International Premiere at Buff Film Festival. LevelK is handling worldwide sales on the movie. On a cold winter’s day in 1940, Jules and his family move to live with his uncle, mayor of a settler’s village in northern Quebec. He is banned from school because of his rare skin disease. From that moment on, his greatest wish is to be cured. When his dog Spark runs away into the wild forest, Jules has no choice but to look for him. On his way, he meets Asha, a mysterious young indigenous girl. Together, they venture to the other side of the forest, where nature reveals itself full of life and secrets.

Jamie Lee Curtis addressed nepotism in Hollywood after winning a Screen Actors Guild Award on Sunday. "I'm wearing the wedding ring that my father gave my mother," Curtis told the audience as she accepted the award for her role in "Everything Everywhere All At Once." She reminded the room at the Fairmont Century Plaza that her famous parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, didn't always have the perfect love story. "They hated each other, by the way.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Arbelos, a Los Angeles-based boutique film distribution company, has acquired North American rights to the new 4K restoration of Béla Tarr collaborator György Fehér’s landmark but long unseen Hungarian masterpiece “Twilight” (“Szürkület”). The restored version of the film world premiered in the Berlinale’s Classics strand on Monday. Hungary’s National Film Institute handled the sale. Fehér, who made only two theatrical features, shot the black-and-white film at the end of the 1980s. Based on the crime novella “The Pledge” by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, it is the story of a retired detective who uses a girl as bait to try to catch a serial killer.

Liza Foreman German production outfit MMC Studios (“Amelie”) is backing romanic drama “Dear Eszter,” from writer/director Alex Balassa. Bastian Griese and Lucas Hamacher will produce the film for MMC Studios in Cologne, alongside Balassa. The film’s co-producers include Peter Seres (“World War Z”) at Hungary’s Punk Films, as well as Ondrej Beranek (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) from the Czech Republic’s Blindspot Capital.  Two of Chile’s foremost TV producers, Maria Elena Wood (“Locas Mujeres”) and Patricio Pereira from Maria Wood Producciones (MEW), serve as executive producers. 

Marta Balaga The Polish film industry is embracing variety and high-profile international collaborations, with a slew of new co-productions already generating buzz among buyers and festival programmers. “More and more established filmmakers, who used to look for collaborators in Romania or Hungary, are now coming to Poland — mostly because we are backed by concrete institutions and because there is money,” says producer Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska of Madants, heading to Berlinale’s European Film Market with “Ultima Thule” and Goran Stolevski’s “Housekeeping for Beginners.” “Our crews speak English and work abroad. We are visible internationally,” she adds.

Nick Holdsworth Csaba Káel, head of Hungary’s National Film Institute (NFI), hopes to emulate an 18th century Magyar hussar hero at this year’s Berlinale European Film Market. Swashbuckling Count Andras Hadik occupied Berlin for one day in 1757 — in return for 300,000 silver thalers, left without destroying the city. Hadik’s adventure is the subject of one of the films the NFI will be marketing at the EFM. Káel plans to spend more than a day in Berlin, but also hopes Hungarian producers will leave with handsome sales ledgers after the market — without having to raise a ransom, like the handsome hussar. It is the first EFM for the NFI, since it was established in 2020, just as the pandemic hit, closing down the Berlinale’s market until this year.

Nick Holdsworth Hungary’s National Film Institute Filmlab is positioning itself to become Europe’s go-to facility for 35mm post-production, processing and restoration. Working alongside the NFI Archive — which is moving ahead with an ambitious program of classic film restoration — the Filmlab aims to be a “one-stop shop for digital, analog, VFX, digital restoration and color grading” according to its head, Tamás Bódizs. Bódizs, who was appointed director six months ago, nine years after he first joined the lab, started his film industry career as a television editor. Film is his passion, he says, and putting Hungary on the map as the go-to location for advanced analog work is a goal the lab has been working towards in recent years.

Fifty years ago, the sci-fi thriller “Soylent Green” warned viewers of a distant future—the year 2022—where environmental catastrophe and over-population would cause such dire resource scarcity that the bodies of those who ended their lives voluntarily and with the government’s assistance were transformed into edible wafers to feed the masses. In “White Plastic Sky,” a heady dystopian animated feature from Hungary, directors Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó depart from nearly the exact same premise, a reality a century from now where crops and animals no longer exist, but the solution to ensure humanity’s survival is no longer a matter of personal agency but of mandated duty for all citizens.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent REinvent International sales has closed deals on genre titles from its Chills label, including “Dark Windows,” “Leave” and “Shadow Island,” ahead of the EFM. “Dark Windows,” Alex Herron’s English-language horror thriller, has been sold to the MENA region (ENL / Empire Network Ltd) and Latin America (Gussi). The movie tells the story of teenagers involved in a car crash who decide to stay at a summerhouse in the U.S. countryside to work through their grief and start being stalked by a masked man. “Dark Windows” stars Annie Hamilton (The Wolf of Snow Hollow, Inventing Anna), Anna Bullard, Rory Alexander, Joel Saemundsson and Morten Holst.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Blue Fox has acquired the U.S. distribution rights for the family adventure movie “School of Magical Animals” from sales agency Global Screen, which has also sold the film’s sequel to several territories. “School of Magical Animals” will be released with 300 copies in the U.S. on March 24 nationwide. James Huntsman of Blue Fox said: “There is a strong appetite for high quality live action family movies and ‘The School of Magical Animals’ delivers on all fronts.” Global Screen has sold the sequel, “School of Magical Animals 2,” which was the most successful local film at the German box office last year with a $21 million gross, to Spain (Flins & Piniculas), Poland (Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty), Denmark (Another World Entertainment), Hungary (ADS Service), CIS and the Baltic States (Investacommerce), and has closed a worldwide airline deal. It will have its market premiere at Berlin’s European Film Market on Saturday.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor New Europe Film Sales has closed several further distribution deals for animated feature “The Peasants,” the followup to Oscar nominee “Loving Vincent,” which grossed more than $50 million at the global box office. New sales include Benelux (Paradiso), the former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Hungary (Vertigo), Portugal (Outsider Films), Turkey (Birfilm) and Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment). The company is in negotiations with buyers in Spain and the Baltics. U.K. and North America rights remain open. Key European sales previously closed include to Plaion in Germany and Jokers in France. “The Peasants,” which is directed by “Loving Vincent” filmmakers D.K. Welchman (formerly known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, is being produced with the same painting technique as used in “Vincent.” The directors were inspired by a wide repertoire of realist and pre-impressionist paintings to depict the Nobel prize-winning novel of Wladyslaw Reymont on film. Set at the end of the 19th century, it tells a story of love and life in a small community, where rules and traditions dictate everyone’s role.

Naman Ramachandran Chris O’Dowd (“Puffin Rock”), Amy Huberman (“Derry Girls”), Beth McCafferty and Eva Whittaker (“Wolfwalkers”) lead the voice cast of “Puffin Rock and the New Friends,” the film based on the TV series “Puffin Rock.” Following their collaboration on Oscar nominees “Song of the Sea” and “The Breadwinner,” WestEnd Films is teaming again with Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon and Northern Ireland’s Dog Ears on the film and is launching sales at Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM), where first footage will be shown to buyers. “Puffin Rock and the New Friends” sees Oona, Baba, May and Mossy joined by a new characters Isabelle, Phoenix and Marvin. When the last Little Egg of the season disappears under mysterious circumstances, Oona and her new friends race against time to bring the Little Egg home before a big storm hits Puffin Rock and puts the entire island in danger.

EXCLUSIVE: RRR and Thor star Ray Stevenson has been set to lead cast in historical drama 1242: Gateway to the West, which is now filming in Budapest, Hungary.

A woman who would never smile in photos due to her dodgy teeth travelled 28,000 miles for dentist treatment in Budapest - and says she never stops grinning now. Olive Bruce, 61, had issues with her NHS dentist near Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, and looked at alternative options before her daughter's wedding in 2003.

EXCLUSIVE: A black comedy crime script has won this year’s NFTS Popcorn Award, which is arranged by the UK’s National Film and Television School and London-based production company, Popcorn Group (She Will).

Antony Root, the long-serving HBO Max EMEA original programming chief, is to exit his role at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and retire from the industry.

Hubert G. Wells, a longtime Hollywood animal trainer whose many credits include the original Doctor Dolittle, Out of Africa, Babe: Pig in the City and, in 1970, the bizarre kids tv series Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp, died Dec. 25 of natural causes at his home in Thousand Oaks, California. He was 88.