11th October, 21.00  | Auditorium DAMSLab – Piazzetta P. P. Pasolini 5b, Bologna

Meeting and screening with Péter Forgács

Considered to be a master of found footage film and a pioneer in the archiving and re-working of amateur films, Péter Forgács is going to be in Bologna on October 11th to introduce the first Italian preview of the last two films in the Private Hungary series: Kemény György and Venom – A Diva in Exile.

Kemény György | 68′, 2017, Hungary

The passionate portrait of Hungarian pop artist György Kemény, very much known in his country for posters, album covers, graphics and the “social” advertisement. Kemény is also a sculptor and author of modern installations, and performances. As with other protagonists in his films, Forgács draws a voyage through the XX Century and its “hidden stories”, with the life of the eighty-year-old Kemény, in this case told personally by him. The narrative has its counterpoint in the private films and in the abundant iconographic material, contextualised à la Forgács.

Chapter XIX of the “Private Hungary” series, the huge work-in-progress that Forgács started in 1988.

Venom – A Diva in Exile | 29’, 2018, Hungary

Venom – A Diva in Exile (2018) is based on the tale of the same name by writer Zsófia Bán, about the troubled story of singer and Hungarian film star Katalin Karády. Diva in the Horthy era, she was accused of espionage during the war, imprisoned, tortured and banished from the radio and the theatres of her own country. After being released, she strived for saving numerous Jewish families, while the disappearance of the man she was connected to, arrested by the Nazis, first, and then by the Soviets, brought her to despair. Heartbroken, castaway and banished by the new Communsit regime, she went into exile in 1951, spending 15 years in San Paolo, Brazil, never playing in films or on stage anymore. She then lived in New York until her death (1990).

In collaboration with Dams50.