Best of Budapest & Hungary

Fifty-five documentaries, shorts and feature films will be screened free of charge at the Tony Curtis International Film Festival (TCIFF) in Mátészalka, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, NE Hungary, starting on Thursday.

    The first-ever three-day film festival will pay tribute to the memory of Tony Curtis, the Hungarian-born world-famous Hollywood actor whose father was born in the small town of Szatmár and whose parents emigrated to the United States.

    The event, supported by the Hungarian Hollywood Council, the Mátészalka Municipality, Origo Film Studio and the National Film Institute, will be hosted by Jill Curtis-Weber, the actor's widow, who will personally attend the opening ceremony and the awards gala, the organizers said.

    Fifty-five films will be screened over the three days, with documentaries, shorts and feature films from seventeen countries, all free of charge from morning to evening at the local Zukor Adolf cinema.

    The event will also feature the national finals of the Hungarian Hollywood competition, where student teams will compete in film, the Adolph Zukor Award will be presented and the Tony Curtis plaque will be unveiled.

    The Hungarian and international film personalities invited to the festival will meet with the public in audience meetings and panel discussions.

    There will be light music concerts and an exhibition to commemorate the 125th birthday of Dave Gould, the Hungarian-born American choreographer, dance director, the dance director of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film company, who won two Academy Awards.