Focus: Judit Elek
Programme IFFR 2023
Judit Elek (1937) is among world cinema’s most uncompromising figures. Beloved by IFFR founder Huub Bals, yet to this day little known in wider circles, Elek made both fiction and documentary films that are almost brutally personal, reflecting as much the history of her native Hungary as her own trauma-riddled life. International Film Festival Rotterdam is honoured to present the most complete retrospective so far of an auteur whose works and wisdom are needed today as urgently as ever.
Overview of films
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Maria’s Day
Judit Elek | 120' | Hungary | None
A day in the death of one of Hungary’s most illustrious families, incomparable in its raw neediness. -
Maybe Tomorrow
Judit Elek | 104' | Hungary | None
A couple in love, but married to other partners. Harsh words, grainy views and tired promises. -
Memories of a River
Judit Elek | 147' | France | None
A disturbingly sober presentation of the last trial in the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy rooted in antisemitism. -
On the Field of God in 1972-73
Judit Elek | 78' | Hungary | None
Part one of Judit Elek’s documentary about Istenmezején, where young women are reduced to a life of chores. -
To Speak the Unspeakable – The Message of Elie Wiesel
Judit Elek | 105' | France | None
A key Holocaust recall and documentary journey with writer/activist/academic Elie Wiesel. -
Tamás Cseh: The First Photo
Judit Elek | 37' | Hungary | None
A television documentary about legendary singer/composer/actor Tamás Cseh. -
The Trial of Martinovics and the Hungarian Jacobins
Judit Elek | 127' | Hungary | None
Dramatisation of the 1794-95 trial against priest and agitator Ignác Martinovics. A visually austere allegory about Hungarian history. -
Visszatérés – Retrace (digital director’s cut)
Judit Elek | 86' | Hungary | None
A Jewish-Hungarian immigrant returns to the world she left behind in this mosaic of reckoning and remembrance. -
We Will Meet in 1972 – In Dark and in Light
Judit Elek | 34' | Hungary | None
A smart, sharp television documentary about the reality of the work of miners.