BuSho Around the World
IBIZA CINEFEST, IBIZA (but not SEAT), Tamás Gábeli
It was February 2023, it was snowing at home and I was part of the international jury on the Spanish island where German and British tourists only go to party from spring to autumn! But it was winter, which meant it was relatively calm and after a transfer in Barcelona I was there in just 6 hours. Maria was waiting for me at the airport, although I was told Sandra would, then it turned out they were sisters and the two of them were organising the travel logistics for the whole festival, which is not so easy.
We’re talking about a small island, with no railway, I didn’t see any buses that could fit in the narrow alleys, but there are plenty of boats, so we drove everywhere. The accommodation and the festival centre were about 10 km apart, so there wasn’t much choice. The small street cafés had a special Mediterranean atmosphere, the local uncles were playing dice where the coffee was accompanied by a local aniseed liqueur, and then the young people at the festival were not lying to themselves, because duromg lunch you definitely need a DJ.
And finally, of course, as I was here as a jury and to present BuSho at the invitation of Xavi Herrero, who visited us last year.
Let’s mention a few sought-after words about the films. And indeed only in headlines, because all 3 of the films I have selected have been screened at last year’s 19th BuSho festival. The beautifully photographed Georgian film ‘Runaway‘ by Salome Kintsurashvili and the Spanish tourist satire ‘Las Visitantes‘ directed by Enrique Buleo will be screened in the competition. And Araque Blanco’s short film ‘The (Other)700 Club‘, a 10-minute documentary about Brooklyn bikers, is in the Panorama section.
Come to the cinema!
IFSAK, ISTANBUL, Zalán Bata
Due to the unfortunate earthquake in Istanbul, the IFSAK Short Film Festival had to be delayed, but fortunately, it wasn’t canceled. The best of the Hungarian selection of last year’s BuSho was screened at the festival with a small presentation at the beginning. We’re glad the Liszt Institute (Hungarian Cultural Centre) in Istanbul was once again opened to our collaboration and helped to organize this screening. The Turkish filmmakers were quite curious about the Hungarian films and it seemed they enjoyed them pretty much. We are looking forward to continue this collaboration in the future.
IN THE PALACE, SOFIA, Levente Galambos
At this year’s In The Palace Short Film Festival I participated as a jury member of the Student Fiction category – you can imagine how much my imposter syndrome was raging when Tami asked me to take on the task.
From the first day of the festival, we bonded with the participating filmmakers and some jury members, and we attended screenings and visited the nearby pubs until the end of the festival. Based on my interpretation, the films I saw can be divided into two categories:
There were in a classic sense fictional films that were made for entertainment purposes, and there were works that aimed to present highly realistic situations with a great deal of sensitivity.
The unanimous winner in the student film category came from the latter group – I still get goosebumps:
‘Trenc d’Alba’, directed by Anna Llargués, portrays a close-knit sibling duo and their family in the days when they have to leave their long-inhabited house because it has become structurally dangerous.
Two Hungarian-directed films were featured in the Student Competition program:
‘Winners’ (Hogy ne győzzünk) by Dániel Füzes and ‘The Other End of the Street’ (Az utca másik vége) by Kálmán Nagy – the latter work received a special mention at the award ceremony for its pacing and relatable story.
