„Blending comedy with tragedy to show up the absurdities of the system, the film wounded official political sensitivities, and it was immediately withdrawn and shelved for 10 years. When it was finally shown in Hungary, The Witnessattracted a cult following, and some of Virág's expressions, such as "not being suspicious at all is most suspicious of all", have entered the lexicon.” (Ronald Bergan, The Guardian)

The original uncensored version presented by the Hungarian National Film Fund – Film Archive. The film was restored in 4K using the original camera negative and outtakes, the only existing uncensored positive print and the original magnetic sound. The restoration was carried out at the Hungarian Filmlab. The digital colour grading was supervised by Tamás Andor (HSC, Hungarian Society of Cinematographers).

Screening 17.05. 2 p.m. Buñuel Theater

„On the Socialist Ghost Train” - The Witness’ story in Cannes 

Julianna Ugrin founded her own Budapest-based independent production company Éclipse Film in 2011. Since then, she has concentrated on the development and production of creative documentaries such as Hot Men Cold Dictatorships (2015), Train To Adulthood (2015), A Woman Captured (2017) and Easy Lessons (2018).

“Let’s Educate Audiences about Documentary Films!” - Interview with Julianna Ugrin

Articles, infographics about Hungarian film industry: film funding, service productions, film studios, new initiatives – everything you need to know about Hungarian cinema. Read the whole issue here!