‘Maria,’ ‘Dune’ Among Global Films Fueled by Hungary’s Artisans

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much common cause between Pablo Larraín’s anticipated Maria Callas biopic, “Maria,” starring Angelina Jolie as the titular opera singer, and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” a 215-minute epic about a Holocaust survivor forging a new life in America. Though both films will premiere on the Lido at this year’s Venice Film Festival, where they’re competing for the Golden Lion, they are in most ways worlds apart.

Yet both owe a good deal to the contributions of Hungarian talent, joining a roster of recent awards bait and blockbusters to film in the Central European country that includes Yorgos Lanthimos’ multi-Oscar winner “Poor Things” and both chapters of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi tentpole “Dune.” While an attractive 30% cash rebate is undoubtedly part of the draw, it’s also a testament to a long history of artistry and technical craftsmanship in the Magyar industry — something Hungarian film commissioner Csaba Káel praises as the country’s “special film DNA.”

For his sprawling period drama, Corbet opted for the suddenly in-vogue 70mm format, continuing a renaissance sparked by films including Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.” “It feels grander and more accurate to the color that a director and colorist and all the engineers are working to achieve. It’s the most accurate representation of the film as a final product,” Corbet tells Variety ahead of his film’s premiere.

The film stock for “The Brutalist” — 26 reels in total, weighing approximately 300 pounds — was processed at Budapest’s NFI Filmlab, which recently received a spate of investment to upgrade its post-production facilities. So, too, was the celluloid for Larraín’s Venice festival contender. Lanthimos relied on Hungarian craftspeople and below-the-line talents to create the lavish world of his Academy Award darling “Poor Things,” and when it came time to process that film’s 35mm stock, the Greek filmmaker also relied on the Budapest lab.

Hungarian auteurs, meanwhile, are also having their time in the limelight, with László Nemes — an Oscar- winner for his 2015 Holocaust drama “Son of Saul” — and Berlinale Golden Bear winner Ildikó Enyedi (“On Body and Soul”) both shooting their anticipated latest features. Nemes’ “Orphan,” a 1950s-set period drama that takes place one year after the uprising against Hungary’s Communist regime, is roughly midway through its 10-week shoot, according to producer Ildikó Kemény, of Budapest-based Pioneer Stillking Films.

The Hungary-U.K.-France-Germany co-production received backing from each of those countries’ national film funds, with Kemény noting: “It’s quite special that we managed to pull this together.” Enyedi’s “Silent Friend,” meanwhile, is being produced by German banner Pandora Film, in co-production with Hungarian veteran producer Monika Mécs at Inform M and M, as well as French producer Nicolas Elghozi at Galatée Films and Meng Xie at Beijing-based Rediance.

Such sprawling co-productions are partly a reflection of the challenging climate for film financing in Hungary, though Mécs notes that it also encourages creative collaborations. “It’s a great opportunity, market-wise. It’s always good to work with fellow filmmakers from Europe — or even outside of Europe,” she says.

Given the challenges, many in the industry have become more selective in which projects they’re willing to invest time and resources in. Multi-hyphenate Lili Horvát (“Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”), who co-founded her Poste Restante shingle with producing partner Dóra Csernátony, is lead producer on “January 2,” an intimate separation drama from director Zsófia Szilágyi, which was financed through the Venice Film Festival’s Biennale College Cinema program.

Horvát admits that she has a “very personal attachment” to the film, adding that she and Csernátony “only take on a project if … it really touches us.”

“We invest a lot of creative energy into it,” she adds. “It has to be something really important to us.”