Hungary's Cinematic Resurrection: How a Nation Revived Its Film Heritage

As of October 2025, Hungary's National Film Institute (NFI), Film Archive, and Filmlab have been working together to revive the country's cinematic heritage. When the current director, György Raduly, took over in 2017, the system was in a state of disrepair, with no development or change for the previous 10 years.

However, in the past eight years, the team has transformed the system into a well-oiled "Rubik's cube," as Raduly describes it. They have restored over 350 films and digitized hundreds more, making them available on the national streaming platform, Filmio, and in a nationwide online catalogue for schools. The selection of films to restore is based on their condition, anniversaries, and distributor interest, spanning from silent works to post-1989 titles.

To further promote Hungary's film culture, the NFI partners with cinemas and schools to organize around 3,000 screenings per year, with a subsidy scheme enabling students to attend for a symbolic €1.5 ($1.75). The Budapest Classics Film Marathon, a six-day festival that screens over 120 films, has also become a landmark event, attracting guests like David Cronenberg and István Szabó.

The restoration efforts have also become tools of cultural diplomacy, with Hungarian films screening at prestigious festivals and institutions around the world, from Bologna's Il Cinema Ritrovato to MoMA in New York. This visibility has even led to Hungary being named the Country of Honor at the Annecy Animation Festival this year.

While a cinémathèque in Budapest is still in the planning stages, the NFI's collaborative approach has allowed it to thrive within the country's highly centralized cultural system, focusing on preservation, education, and global accessibility.