Absolutely Animated. Áron Gauder, Géza M. Tóth and György Szemadám in Conversation with László Kolozsi
Absolutely Animated. Áron Gauder, Géza M. Tóth and György Szemadám in Conversation with László Kolozsi

Summary/Abstract: The Annecy International Festival is the single most important shop window for animated films. A good showing there greatly improves a film’s chance of global distribution, award winners gain peer and industry respect. Áron Gauder’s The District (see HQ 180) carried off the prize for the best feature-length European animation in 2005. Now Géza M. Tóth’s Maestro has arguably gone one better by being Oscar nominated for the best animated film of 2006. Its single long take features a cuckoo looking at itself in a dressing-room mirror while waiting to get a drink and a brush-down from its dresser before going on stage. Not too long ago, Hungarian animation went through a bad patch, when money was hard to find for production or distribution. Has it pulled through? That was one of the questions put to Áron Gauder and Géza M. Tóth, the directors, and to György Szemadám, a key figure on the distribution side. Once a lion tamer, György Szemadám has made a name for himself as a graphic artist and author. He is on the advisory board of the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Foundation, a crucial source of financing in Hungary. Although the 2004 Motion Picture Act offers attractive tax breaks, private finance is simply not available for animated films, with state subsidy being the main source.

• Details
• Contents