Press Releases

Budapest, April 23, 2020 16:00

This year, the Hungarian Telephone Film Festival, which started last year and can be linked to the name of Prof. Karl Bardosh, the pioneer of mobile film production, will be held under the name of MagentaFilm Festival. The internationally acknowledged event will be held in the online space - in light of the global situation - but this will not take away from the experience of the competition. On the contrary, Magyar Telekom, as the main sponsor, ensures the full use of digital opportunities and possibilities.

Feature films and commercials have already been made with mobile phones, but how do we use the opportunities offered by our digital devices at home? Prof. Karl Bardosh, film director and university professor, who organized the Hungarian Telephone Film Festival for the first time in Hungary last year and was not only the inventor but also the chairman and advocate of the jury, is looking for an answer to this question. Abel Százados made it to Cannes last year as the finisher of this competition, where he received a special award from the jury as the youngest filmmaker.
Prof. Bardosh mentors the participants with half a century of experience, opening up a wealth of international opportunities for them.
Like most branches of art, film can become truly successful from what it has to say: we are currently not only observers but also experiencers of a global story that leaves none of us unaffected. The impact of the coronavirus situation on our lives is therefore a key theme of this year's MagentaFilm Festival:

"Our life between four walls - the coronavirus situation from an individual perspective"

To draw attention to creative digital solutions, Telekom is joining the Festival this year as the main sponsor, providing an opportunity and inspiration for smartphone owners to show how much they can do with their device, regardless of age. Telekom, an educational mentor of mobile filmmaking, is also preparing for a live event on the event's Facebook page, primarily with Professor Karl Bardosh, as well as Oscar-winning director Kristóf Deák and director Ábel Regős.

The top 10 films selected by the professional jury of renowned filmmakers – headed by Prof. Bardosh and András Kovács Péter, marketing communication lead at Magyar Telekom - will be screened at the New York University Telephone Film Festival, and these films will be nominated at the Marche du Film Festival, which is linked to the Cannes Film Festival. Out of the top 10 films the jury will award a prize to the winner, which is a DJI Osmo image stabilizer.Besides contributing to the content Telekom awards the most talented film-maker: the company enters into a contract with a selected participant in the value of gross HUF 1,000,000 through which the selected work can be part of Telekom’s advertisement spot thus ensuring nationwide publicity. In addition, through its MagentaKraft platform, Telekom awards gross prizes of HUF 350,000, HUF 180,000 and HUF 60,000 to applicants who seek digital solutions in their films and demonstrate the power of digital collaboration in the current forced isolation.

How do we cope with confinement, how does the epidemic change our daily lives? The prestigious professional jury will be looking forward to answers to these questions until May 15, 2020, in the form of maximum 3-minute, mobile telephone-recorded films. Whether the submitted application is a documentary, short film, music clip or animated film, is up to the director. The completed short films will be welcomed by the Festival Jury as links to WeTransfer or Google Drive at palyazat@magentafilmfeszt.com. Pornographic, political and religious works will be automatically excluded from the competition, and directors are asked to keep a distance of at least 1.5-2 meters from and among the participants of the film making to keep social distance, and the organizers also recommend that during the film making, whenever possible, everyone should stay in their own home.

The detailed terms and conditions of participation and further information can be found on the festival's constantly updated Facebook webpage.