The CineFest MiskolcInternational Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the town of Miskolc, in Hungary. It was founded under the name of Festival of Young Filmmakers in 2004 with a focus on filmmakers under the age of 35. The festival now presents feature films, shorts, documentaries, and animated films. All programs, screenings, conferences, and exhibitions are free to attend.
History
Miskolc film tradition
The first Hungarian film festival was held in Miskolc in 1938. Using the Venice Film Festival as an inspiration, the rooms of the Palace Hotel hosted numerous Hungarian stars and directors during the Lillafüred National Film Days. For decades since the 1960s, the most important Hungarian documentary and television festivals were also held in Miskolc. In addition to this, Miskolc and its surroundings play a role in the history of Hollywood cinema: William Fox, founder of Fox Film, which went on to become 20th Century Fox, was born in the nearby village of Tolcsva, while Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount Pictures, was born in Ricse.
CineFest
The festival was founded in 2004 with the idea of providing young filmmakers a platform to showcase their creations. The event grew with each year, increasing the number of submissions and films screened, and the number of awards grew as well. This was accompanied by film-related programs and workshops, conferences, concerts, and parties. In 2010, the CineClassics category was established, drawing attention to Hungarian filmmakers with global renown but little prominence in their home country, such as William Fox and Adolph Zukor. The first to be featured was Emeric Pressburger, the Oscar-winning British screenwriter-director, born in Miskolc, and best known for his film collaboration with Michael Powell in the multiple award-winning partnership known as The Archers. Since 2010, the Emeric Pressburger Prize has been the highest honour conferred by the festival. Since 2017, thanks to the festival’s partnership agreement with the Shanghai International Film Festival, works of Chinese cinema have been screened at Miskolc. Also in 2017, the festival organized the first Central European TorinoFilmLab, which is dedicated to the script development process, and helps creative teams working on their first or second feature films in project development and attention-grabbing devices. In 2019, FIPRESCI held its general assembly at CineFest. The festival's jury is made up of members of FIPRESCI, CICAE, as well as various other international film associations.
László Kolozsi of Revizor Online wrote in 2010 that "CineFest needed less than ten years to grow into becoming the most important Hungarian film festival with the best official selection"
László Valuska stated in 2011 that "Miskolc is no less than being the Cannes of the Hungarian man"
In 2018, Zoltán Huber stated that "...the CineFest in Miskolc...is worth visiting at least once, even if you are not at all excited about watching promising movies a few days or weeks before their show. The “CineFest experience” is always more than what the program has to offer..."
