Films by the Students of the Fekete Doboz Roma Media School
Films by the Students of the Fekete Doboz Roma Media School
Regime Change in Hungary, 1988–1990: Fekete Doboz Films at Cirko, Pt5.
Fekete Doboz was the first independent video collective in communist Hungary, serving both as a chronicler and an active shaper of the regime change. It was founded in 1987 by Judit Ember, Márta Elbert, István Jávor, András Lányi, and Gábor Vági. Their documentaries were distributed on VHS as a samizdat video journal. Their aim was to document opposition figures excluded from the state-socialist media, as well as demonstrations and political events.
With nearly four thousand hours of footage, their video archive is today the largest private Hungarian archive of the regime change period. After 1990, their focus shifted to groups marginalized by society. In 1993, their work was recognized with a Pulitzer Memorial Prize.
Six evenings, six films, and ten invited guests await audiences at the Cirko-Gejzír. Opening remarks will be delivered by Zsuzsa Zádori, archivist and curator of the Fekete Doboz Collection at the Blinken OSA Archivum.
The series is presented in collaboration with Fekete Doboz, Cirko-Gejzír, Blinken OSA Archivum, and 444.hu.
5. March 23, 2026, 6:00 p.m. Films by the Students of the Fekete Doboz Roma Media School
documentary selection, 70 minutes
Like Bees (2004), dir. Katalin Fógel, 30 min.
Fradi Is Better (2002), dir. Norbert Szirmai and János Révész, 12 min.
Feathered (2004), dir. Juci Csík, 10 min.
Kaffka (2002), dir. Tünde Baranyi, 18 min.
Guests: Juci Csík, film director, and Anna Szilágyi, linguist
Venue: Cirko-Gejzír Cinema, 15–17 Balassi Bálint Street, 1055 Budapest
Hungarian-language event. Tickets: 2,500 HUF Program curator: Márta Elbert Contributors: Nóra Bertalan, Judit Hegedüs, Katalin Székely, and Zsuzsa Zádori (Blinken OSA Archivum)
The Fekete Doboz Collection is administered by the Blinken OSA Archivum. The full list of documentary films is available here.
