A star parade filmed in Hungary at almost the same time as the Venice premiere (Poor Things), a shocking Hungarian story (I won’t die), Aki Kaurismäki’s comeback (Fallen Leaves) and an Oscar-nominated and Venice award-winning documentary (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed) are among the films to be screened on Friday.

Coming from Cannes’ Un Certain Regard program and included in CineFest’s Competition Program, Iranian Terrestrial Verses follows ordinary people from all aspects of life as they navigate the cultural, religious and institutional constraints imposed on them by various social institutions, from school teachers to bureaucrats. These humorous and touching portraits of life show the spirit and determination of people overcoming adversity.

Tickets for the performance are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

It is 1885, and the famous gourmand Dodin (Benoit Magimel) is constantly inspired by the culinary inspirations of his faithful cook Eugénie (Juliette Binoche). Their perfectly balanced meals reveal more than a thousand gestures about their feelings for each other, but a proposal threatens her independence. Showing love in its purest form, The Passion of Dodin Bouffant won Best Director at Cannes and is in Competition at CineFest.

Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and are best purchased in advance.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest star-packed sensation was shot in Hungary and comes to the Miskolc Competition Program straight from the Venice 2023 Competition Program, which runs in parallel with CineFest. Poor Things tells the incredible story of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), brought back to life by the genius Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). With the help of a gruff and debauched lawyer (Mark Ruffalo), Bella escapes from the self-righteous scientist to embark on a magical journey across continents.

Tickets are available for 1.000 HUF and are best purchased in advance.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a powerful, emotional, multi-layered story about internationally acclaimed artist and activist Nan Goldin. The film, screened in the CineDocs Competition program, uses Goldin’s photographs, interviews, groundbreaking work and rare archival footage to tell the story of the activist’s fight to hold the pharmaceutical giant Sackler family accountable for the opioid crisis. Laura Poitras, the Oscar-winning director of Citizenfour, won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for her latest film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and are recommended to be purchased in advance.

In partnership with the Hong Kong International Film Festival, another film is included in the Open Eye program today. In the film In Broad Daylight, based on true events, a news agency’s team of investigative journalists are tipped off about abuse at a home for the disabled. To expose the inhumanities taking place there, their reporter goes undercover posing as the grandchild of one of the residents. The film will be screened at the Urania on 8 September at 7pm, with a Q&A session with actor Lam Bowie, one of the characters. Lam Bowie, 57, has appeared in television series and films since 1991, and has twice won the Best Actor Award in his country for his television roles. He is a very colorful character, having appeared in Gard Boils (1992) alongside Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The most influential action film of all time not only launched the Hollywood career of its director John Woo, but later inspired films such as The Matrix and John Wick. John Woo loved working with Lam Bowie so much that when the director returned to his homeland after two decades to make a two-part historical opus with a gigantic budget (The Crossing – 2014, The Crossing 2 – 2015), he asked him to join the cast again. The actor also recently appeared alongside Jackie Chan in Bleeding Steel (2017).

The film will only be screened once at the festival! Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

In the Finnish melancholy romantic comedy Fallen Leaves, the lives of a construction worker and a supermarket worker intersect in a seedy karaoke bar. Aki Kaurismäki, a living legend known for his distinctive directorial style and extremely dry humor, returned to Cannes in his best form in 12 years, winning the Jury Prize. Now his new film is in competition at CineFest.

Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and are best purchased in advance.

Gábor Einspach is a successful gallery owner and contemporary art collector, and one of the leading figures in the Budapest art world. When he learns that he is suffering from pancreatic cancer, he sees the disease not as a tragedy but as an opportunity for a complete new beginning. As he continues to undergo increasingly demanding treatments, he tries to redefine his own life, his true goals and his relationship with his entire environment. Asia Dér, co-director of the highly successful Story of My Mothers, follows Gábor’s daily life from the very beginning of his treatment in I Won’t Die, a film in the Outlook program, which will have its world premiere at an A-category festival shortly after CineFest. Dér delves deep into the mental and physical struggles of an extraordinary man and asks whether Gábor can fulfil his ambitions. The film’s producers, Veronika Noémi Szakonyi and Artur Máté Vincze, won the Adolf Zukor Prize last year for their film Six Weeks, and will return to the festival with I Won’t Die! The audience meeting of the film will be attended by the filmmakers as well as the main character.

The film will only be screened once at the festival! Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

The biggest critical and audience favorite romantic film of 2023, American Past Lives is a heartbreaking story of life choices, missed opportunities and true love. Nora and Hae-sung were best friends as children, but the move of the little girl has separated them. Twenty years later, they find each other again. Presented in the Competition Program at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlinale, the film is also in the Competition Program here and was hailed by Rolling Stone as “the best film you’ll see this year”.

The last screening of the film at the festival. Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.