‘Rambo’ to the rescue of Hungarian film industry
Hungary shut down its main film funding body on Friday and said the producer of the “Rambo” and “Terminator” series of films, Andrew Vajna, would steer its domestic film industry out of financial crisis.
After months of controversy and political manoeuvering, the government announced it was shutting down the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Foundation or MMKA, which is responsible for funding most domestic movies, but is mired in debts of some 40 million euros ($59 million).
“The state budget simply does not have enough money to settle the debts,” the ministry of public administration and justice said in a statement.
“The MMKA’s tasks will be assumed in future by a new organisation to be set up by commissioner Vajna,” who was scheduled to present his strategy early next month, the statement said.
The appointment of the Hungarian-born US film producer to reform the Hungarian film industry drew heavy criticism from home-grown filmmakers and their foreign colleagues earlier this year.
“The Hungarian government has decided to replace a democratic self-governing structure ensuring pluralism with a one-person decision-making system,” the filmmakers said in a joint declaration in February.
Vajna has been appointed for a period of two years, during which he will overhaul, among other things, the system of state aid for filmmaking.
“We fear that the decision might endanger the versatility of Hungarian films,” the declaration said.
Nine Hungarian film directors — including Bela Tarr, Miklos Jancso, Ildiko Enyedi and Marta Meszaros — signed the declaration, alongside international filmmakers like Oscar-nominated directors Gus van Sant and Alfonso Cuaron, Michael Haneke, Olivier Assayas, Cristian Mungiu, Andrzej Wajda and British actress Tilda Swinton.
In Boedapest 