CEEA Talks: Ildikó Takács & Reka Temple about a boost for Hungarian Animation
Some grand masters of the past, a new generation finding its voice, a school doing good work… For years, the Hungarian animated film train stayed neatly up to pace with other countries in the region. But recently, it unexpectedly turned into a high-speed train. The next stop is Annecy Station.
We tried to find an explanation for this, together with Ildikó Takács, Director of the Hungarian Tribute Programme in the Annecy Festival, and Reka Temple, President of the Hungarian Animation Producers Association. Organising a tribute programme in a festival like Annecy comes with huge challenges. But one is making Ildikó Takács more nervous than all others: “I promised that if all goes right in Annecy, I will go swimming in the lake. For the first time! A professor at the animation school challenged me, and before I even understood it was a joke, I had already admitted it. Now there’s no way back.”
Why is it that Hungary deserves to be in the focus this year?
Takács: Because we have an amazing 111-year-old animation film heritage…
Euh… are you sure it’s not because of recent achievements?
Takács: The young generation has been very active and successful indeed. We created a trailer featuring all the recent Hungarian animations, and you’ll be surprised by the number of titles; I estimate around 75. There is huge potential in those emerging artists.
This heritage was celebrated last year through a compilation called Hungarian Animation 110. Was that just a title, or is this tradition really being cherished?
Takács: The way we celebrate this anniversary is a sincere recognition of our animation history. It’s a milestone. And the highlight, the crowning glory of all these efforts, is the Hungarian animation now being honoured at the Annecy Festival.
When was a turning point?
Reka Temple: 2023 was an extremely successful year for us. We had four feature films in competition in Annecy! FOUR SOULS OF COYOTE (Áron Gauder) won the Jury Award; the other features were WHITE PLASTIC SKY (Tibor Bánóczki & Sarolta Szabó), TONY, SHELLY AND THE MAGIC LIGHT (Filip Posivac), and TOLDI (Marcell Jankovics). The short film 27 (Flóra Anna Buda) won an award in Cannes and then brought home the prestigious Annecy Cristal. That was our momentum, a turning point that made us realise the strength of our production. This time, we were not only service providers or minority co-producers. FOUR SOULS OF COYOTE and TOLDI were 100% Hungarian; TONY, SHELLY… and WHITE PLASTIC SKY were co-productions with Slovakia and/or Czechia.
From the time I started working in this industry, I remember titles like SARKANY ES PAPUCS (Dragon & Slippers, by Tibor Hernadi, 1990) and THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN (by József Gémes, 1991). Animation was flourishing, especially with feature films.
Takács: We call it the Golden Age of Hungarian Animation. The first Hungarian animated feature, made in 1973, was JOHNNY CORNCOB (JÁNOS VITÉZ) by Marcell Jankovics. Every year, we had one amazing animated children’s film from the well-known studio Pannónia, and we participated in co-productions, such as the French-Hungarian THE TIME MASTERS (1981). One of our biggest achievements in the 80s was when HEROIC TIMES by József Gémes won the first feature-length award in Annecy in 1985, an anniversary we will celebrate this year in an exhibition. This is also one of the titles in our Hungarian Retrospective, together with, for example, SON OF THE WHITE MARE (by Marcell Jankovics) and HABFÜRDÖ (BUBBLE BATH, by György Kovásznai).
Then what happened after the fall of the Iron Curtain? Were those years really the Dark Ages?
Temple: Not at all! Hungary was an excellent service producer. We worked for Nickelodeon, we participated in PETTSON AND FINDUS, in the Canadian-French co-production BABAR, even the MR. BEAN series was produced in Hungary. We worked for companies in Canada, Germany, France, the UK,… In this period, interesting new technological developments were launched. From painting celluloids, we moved towards using computers.
Things started to change drastically in the new millennium.
Takács: The tax rebate system, launched in 2004, has been a major driving force in enhancing service production in Hungary. This era also brought a boom in CGI and VFX, for which Hungary provided a huge market. A company like Digic works relentlessly for some of the biggest game publishing companies. Commercially, this is a vital part of our industry. Then, in 2011, there was a shift in the financing system. On his return to Hungary, Hollywood producer Andrew Vajna implemented a system to professionalise the entire process.
Temple: No feature animations were financed in those days. The former Hungarian Film Public Foundation gave priority to author-driven, artistic features and shorts. Only after the Hungarian National Film Fund (Magyar Nemzeti Filmalap) was established in 2011, the interest in feature animation re-awakened. After the renowned animation artists in the 70s and 80s, now a new generation of directors stood up.
One crucial element in this revival movement must have been the people’s mindset. Did this generation have a different view on their role in the industry?
Temple: This was a generation of producers who had been delivering services to big foreign companies, so when we became part of the EU in 2004, it was easy for studios like Kecskemétfilm and Cinemon to step in. Moreover, the expansion of the internet put an end to sending huge stacks of paper to South Korea and having them send hard drives back to our studios. In the post-COVID era, this became even more evident. Nowadays we can work from any location, collaborating with whomever we want.
Did the schools adapt to that new situation?
Takács: MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design) was a crucial element behind the recent success of Hungarian animation and the alma mater of many amazing directors. We have two more universities (METU – Budapest Metropolitan University & Eszterházy Károly University) offering animation education in English, and there are training programmes funded by the National Film Institute. For our industry, schools have become a hub for this new way of thinking.
Another success element is the importance of networks.
Temple: Our keyword at the Hungarian Producers’ Association is ‘connection’. Even through filmmaking, we connect producers and artists with the audience. Our slogan for Annecy is ‘Draw to Connect’.
Takács: I strongly believe that through collaboration and co-production, we can be worthy competitors to Hollywood animation. That’s the path for the future. We created a National Animation Strategy, positioning animation as a key sector in the film industry. Among its priorities are talent development and the promotion of international co-productions. The initiation of the Annecy Guest Country programme by NFI was also part of this strategy.
Is that strategy coordinated by the National Film Institute?
Temple: Nowadays, the role of animation has extended hugely – animation is everywhere in the virtual world. We wanted to capture this with a strategy, jointly coordinated by the NFI, the Hungarian Animation Producers Association, and the Hungarian Animation Artists Association. In the shaping of this strategy, the NFI gave us a strong voice that was really being heard in constructive discussions. This is an acknowledgement of a part of the film industry that is growing stronger all the time.
You’re strategists. But since I want to understand more about the nature of Hungarian animation, I ask you to speak as Hungarians, not as producers. For instance, a substantial part of your animation legacy is based on your folktale tradition…
Temple: This is where it all started – and it’s still relevant – but I don’t see those stories as a typical element for Hungarian animation today. We can tackle all topics, from VFX for a live action movie like ANORA (VFX provided by KGB) that just won a billion Academy Awards…
You’re talking like a producer again…!
Temple: Because I’m afraid to generalise! Hungarian animation is all about variation. WHITE PLASTIC SKY is a 3D sci-fi, PELICAN BLUE is an animated documentary, FOUR SOULS OF COYOTE is traditional 2D animation with elements from Native American mythology,…
Takács: I agree! In order to select projects to be pitched in Annecy, for the first time, we organised a Hungarian animation pitch forum. In total, 53 (!) projects applied, and the five winning projects were all very different and diverse. Some of them might draw on folk mythology, others have that typical MOME style, which is always a bit rebellious and deviant. I find it hard to make even one generalisation of Hungarian animated content.
Maybe this one… Hungarian humour is black humour. If it ain’t dark, it ain’t funny.
Takács: It would indeed be exceptional to hear Hungarians being described as light-minded people. My European friends say that we’re as complex and complicated as our language. We had an Audience Award in this Hungarian pitch forum, and the people chose unanimously for Damján Lazin, a MOME student, pitching his short film ERGOT, the quirkiest project of all.
Having heard all those pitches, you know what interesting projects are in the pipeline.
Takács: FAIRYHEART, a co-production with Canada and Germany, has a Hungarian IP and great potential. Anita Doron was Oscar-nominated as scriptwriter for BREADWINNER. She lives in France, and this will be her first Hungarian movie and her debut as an animation film director.
Animation is an export product that Hungarians can and should be proud of. Are they?
Temple: I believe so, and as a result, the sector is given substantial support.
Takács: The NFI realises the importance of the Annecy tribute programme. They trusted us completely and chose professional people to make things happen. For the archive section, the festival invited animation film historian Anna Ida Orosz to curate a retrospective series, in which she compiled 61 short and feature-length titles. There’s a hilarious section with early advertisement films and a section for female voices.
I’m asking you for nostalgic reasons… For many years, Pannonia Studios have been the flagship of Hungarian animation. What happened to the iconic studio in the 90s?
Temple: When I was jumping into animation in 1994, Pannonia had become a smaller studio, from which some independent initiatives had emerged. I don’t know how the legal status of the company evolved throughout this period of transition, but the building still exists, and it’s still called Pannonia. It has been renovated, and now several studios for editing, sound design, sound mixing, etc., are located there. The huge auditorium for sound recording is still there. You can still ‘smell’ animation everywhere in that building. I was there two weeks ago with the widow of legendary Hungarian director Attila Dargai, who worked there in the 70s and 80s. She showed me around the building: Attila used to sit here, I was working here, and this is where we recorded the sound,… It was a wonderful moment.
Annecy is paying tribute to him too.
Temple: We have produced a film based on Attila Dargai’s designs – THE QUEST just premiered in Hungary and will be screened in Annecy. Attila’s widow gave us the drawings from the 70s and 80s, and we’ve completed his dream. Those character and location designs are like a time capsule, and I get goosebumps every time I realise that after 50 years, we have completed a project created by this legendary director. This symbolises the past and present of Hungarian animation. And the sound post-production of that film has been done in that same Pannonia building!
By the way: You’re not only bringing films to Annecy, you’re also bringing a screening venue.
Takács: Yes, the Annecy Hungarian Dome! The inspiration partly came from the House of Music in Budapest, which features a fantastic sound dome. The festival’s management visited the venue and found the already produced dome re-formatted old and recent content quite exciting. And then we’ll have a street art exhibition, and we…
Stop!! It’s like Attila the Hun has returned. There’s no way to escape from the Hungarians in Annecy!
Takács: Having this kind of spotlight on you is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We are getting a chance to showcase our past and our future, our education and our innovation.
What made you the right person to organise all this? A year ago, you were still working for Digic, and now…
Takács: I jumped into animation 10 years ago. I used to be a cultural diplomat, running the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London, and I organised the same type of large-scale cultural events there during Hungary’s EU presidency. Working with the Annecy Festival was an amazing experience; they’re super supportive and open to all our crazy ideas. My background is rather business-oriented; I started my career as a lawyer.
Nevertheless, for this job, you need to have a tiny bit of that animation-craziness in you.
Takács: I entered the film industry on the distribution side, as head of theatrical distribution in one of Hungary’s biggest distribution companies, even before my days in diplomacy. From there, I jumped into live-action production. But when I joined Digic, I got bitten by the animation bug, possibly forever.
Temple: My life is so much simpler. I stepped into animation 31 years ago, working on a French-Hungarian translation, and then step by step, I became a production assistant, a production manager, then a producer, and then finally the CEO of the production company. I love what I’m doing. I feel so fortunate to work with people on projects that we deeply appreciate.
Interview conducted by Gert Hermans for CEE Animation.
