Noémi Veronika Szakonyi

Samah attempts tirelessly to escape wearing a burkini for her middle school swim meet, feeling embarrassed by its shape and cultural meaning.

Samah attempts tirelessly to escape wearing a burkini for her middle school swim meet, feeling embarrassed by its shape and cultural meaning.

Samah attempts tirelessly to escape wearing a burkini for her middle school swim meet, feeling embarrassed by its shape and cultural meaning.

The documentary team follows two happiness agents in their forties who spend a month and a half on the road twice a year, going door-to-door with their questionnaires in isolated villages in the Himalayas. The filmmakers undertake to provide an intimate insight into the daily lives and desires of Bhutanese people, and also seek the answer to the universal question of whether happiness can really be measured. Gross National Happiness promises a heart-warming journey into a mysterious, fairytale-like world, which is the exact opposite of the social order dominated by consumption and desires.

Zsófi, a rebellious teenager, lives in a tiny flat with her little sister, Mesi, and her unstable mother, Bea. Zsófi discovers late that she is pregnant and decides to give up her baby through open adoption to an infertile couple. Bea cannot accept her daughter’s decision, but she does not realize that neither Zsófi, nor the circumstances, are suitable to welcome a newborn. Zsófi has always had to behave like a grown-up, working and making sensible decisions, instead of her mother and for her sister. She is still in high school and her only advantage is her table tennis career, for which she works assiduously. She plans the adoption thoroughly with the help of a social worker. Following the birth, she is given six weeks by law to change her mind and ask for her child back. She seems to be able to control her feelings ruthlessly and continue towards the goals she has set. At the same time, her maternal feelings intensify, doubts arise, and she slowly begins to question her decisions.

Zsófi, a rebellious teenager, lives in a tiny flat with her little sister, Mesi, and her unstable mother, Bea. Zsófi discovers late that she is pregnant and decides to give up her baby through open adoption to an infertile couple. Bea cannot accept her daughter’s decision, but she does not realize that neither Zsófi, nor the circumstances, are suitable to welcome a newborn. Zsófi has always had to behave like a grown-up, working and making sensible decisions, instead of her mother and for her sister. She is still in high school and her only advantage is her table tennis career, for which she works assiduously. She plans the adoption thoroughly with the help of a social worker. Following the birth, she is given six weeks by law to change her mind and ask for her child back. She seems to be able to control her feelings ruthlessly and continue towards the goals she has set. At the same time, her maternal feelings intensify, doubts arise, and she slowly begins to question her decisions.

In Hungary, more than 50 percent of all inmates end up back in prison within 5 years from their release. The tale therapy was launched in 2010 in the Heves County Remand Prison in Eger, and since its inception, more than 100 women have taken part in it. Out of them, only one went back to prison. The 26 minute-long animated documentary, which was the director's graduation film at the University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest, introduces the tale therapy through a particular tale and everyday life of two imprisoned mother. We discover the prison life and also the desires and change in these two women through their stories and the tale. Even though they are locked up in prison, viewers can embrace their imagination and created worlds they utilize to get closer to their children's forgiveness.

Gabor is a successful, life-loving gallery owner, part of the artistic high society of Budapest. He is always busy, surrounded by many people, constantly marching towards higher and higher goals. One day his seemingly perfect life is shaken by a hurtful breakup and the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

In communist Hungary a young mother wants to live with her son. To do so, she has to kidnap her own child from her influential, manipulative ex-husband and escape with him to the West.