Hungarian films supported by the National Film Institute (NFI) exceeded two billion forints in box office revenue in the first three quarters of the year. Several new films will be released in the coming weeks, including Árva (Orphan), Hungary’s Oscar contender, and the action drama Sárkányok Kabul felett (Dragons Over Kabul), the NFI reported.
The announcement highlighted that films supported by the NFI enjoyed success after success in the first three quarters of 2025. Decade-long viewership and revenue records were broken in cinemas, and Hungarian films won an outstanding total of 37 awards at international festivals.
Between January 1 and September 30, a total of 948,030 tickets were sold for films supported by the NFI, generating a total of HUF 2,015,528,676 (around EUR 5.04 million) in revenue at domestic box offices, they emphasized.
The romantic comedy How Could I Live Without You?, released at the end of 2024, has already exceeded one million domestic cinema admissions, which has not been seen since 1986’s Love Until the First Blood. The film Véletlenül írtam egy könyvet (I Accidentally Wrote a Book) has become the most successful Hungarian youth film since the change of regime, with more than 160,000 tickets sold.
So far this year, six new feature-length films supported by the NFI have been released in cinemas: in addition to the family film I Accidentally Wrote a Book, Bálint Dániel Sós’s first feature film Everything’s Fine, the animated film John Vardar vs. the Galaxy, the animated film adaptation of Csongor and Tünde, the portrait film Kell egy oroszlán (We Need a Lion) by Veronika Marék, and the historical film 1242 – A Nyugat kapujában (1242 – At the Gates of the West).
The announcement highlights that films made with NFI support have also been successful at the largest, so-called A-category festivals. Mirjána Balogh’s animated film Wish You Were Ear won the Crystal Bear award for best short film at the Berlinale. The Canadian-Hungarian co-production Blue Heron won the award for best first film at the Locarno Festival and then the Discovery of the Year award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Luna Wedler, the female lead in Ildikó Enyedi’s film Csendes barát (Quiet Friend), won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Emerging Actor at the Venice Film Festival, while the film itself received awards from five independent juries.
I Accidentally Wrote a Book won a total of 17 international awards this year, including the grand prize at the children’s and youth film festivals in Montreal, Zlín, Tromso, and Frankfurt. László Csáki’s animated documentary Blue Pelican received the Anima certificate of recognition in Brussels, the Nancy Award in Utrecht, and the awards for best director and best editor in Brazil, as well as the award for best feature film at the Stuttgart Animation Festival.
Photo: Pexels
For the film Mesterjátszma (Master Game), the creative team won the award for best film, Barnabás Tóth won the award for best director, Károly Hajduk won the award for best actor, and Tibor Fonyódi and Barnabás Tóth won the award for best screenplay at the SEE film festival held in Paris, Berlin, and Washington.
Balázs Budavári’s Happy People was honored with the award for best fantasy short film at the Fantasporto festival. At the Art Film Festival in Košice, Attila Moharos’s I Was Born a Servant won the Blue Angel award.
Several new Hungarian films await audiences this fall. The portrait film Ember maradj! – Az Ákos-sztori. Eddig. (Stay Human! – The Ákos Story. So Far.), which premieres on October 16, offers a glimpse into Ákos Kovács’s decades-long career and the rarely seen world of his personal struggles and joys.
From October 23, Oscar-winning László Nemes Jeles’s most personal film to date, Árva (Orphan), which has been nominated by Hungary for an Oscar, will be shown. Set in Budapest in the spring of 1957, the film’s protagonist is a 12-year-old boy who believes that his father, who disappeared during the war, will return. The director’s latest film was inspired by his own family history.
The documentary film Bölöni – Az erdélyi legenda (Bölöni – The Transylvanian Legend) presents the career of László Bölöni, European Cup (BEK) winner, 102-time national team player, and coach who discovered world-famous soccer players, and will be in theaters from November 6. It is a special journey through space and time, in which Valentin Ceauşescu and world-famous stars talk about this exceptional personality, who is revered as a national hero on both sides of the Romanian-Hungarian border, according to the press release.
The large-scale action film Sárkányok Kabul felett (Dragons Over Kabul), produced in collaboration with the creators of Semmelweis and Aranyélet, will be released on November 20. The film’s story was inspired by the Hungarian Defense Forces’ 2021 rescue operation in Afghanistan. Hungarian soldiers rescue hundreds of people from an airport surrounded by the Taliban, while the protagonist, a lieutenant, must also resolve the rescue of his love from the past, according to the synopsis.
Ildikó Enyedi’s special film, The Quiet Friend, which won six awards in Venice, is already being shown in pre-premiere screenings across the country and will be released on January 29, 2026. The film tells a story set in three different eras, three tentative encounters between humans and plants, when these two radically different species truly connect for a moment, according to the film’s synopsis.
Via MTI; Featured photo: Pexels
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