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Cinematographer Elemér Ragályi, one of the greatest talents of modern Hungarian cinema, died last Thursday.

Ragályi was born in 1939 in Hungary, where he graduated at the Academy of Theater and Film with a degree in cinematography.

As a cinematographer, he worked with directors such as István Gaál, István Szabó Gyula Gazdag, Judit Elek, Pál Sándor and Ferenc András, innovating in order to give a distinctive look to iconic films.

In 1970, Gaál’s “The Falcons” won the Jury Prize of the Cannes Film Festival, in large part thanks to the camerawork of Ragályi.

Elemér Ragályi (Courtesy of Nfi/Magda B. Muller)

In 1990, he received the television prize, the CableACE Award, of the American Society of Cinematographers for the HBO production “The Josephine Baker Story,” starring Lynn Whitfield. He was also nominated for Ace awards for his work on “Max and Helen” and “Red King, White King,” starring Tom Skerritt and Helen Mirren.

For the fifth year running, Lyon’s Lumière Festival will honor Hungarian cinema and invite guests of the Hungarian National Film Fund to present two classic Hungarian films from important national filmmakers, Márta Mészáros’ “Ők ketten” (“Women”) and Zoltán Fábri’s “Fifth Seal.”

Both films will be presented by Lumière Festival special guest Marina Vlady on Oct 18.

It’s a treat for the Hungarian National Film Fund, coming just one month after hosting their own retrospective film festival, the Budapest Classics Film Marathon. This year’s event saw 100 films screen over seven days with more than 17,000 spectators attending.

1977’s “Women” stars popular Hungarian actors Lili Monori and Golden Globe-nominated Marina Vlady (“The Conjugal Bed”) with an appearance from Vladimir Visotski (“The Duel”). The story turns on two women, Juli and Mari, who are each experiencing marital crisis. Their problems bring the two together in an attempt to help one another put their lives back together.

Hungary has chosen Barnabás Tóth’s “Those Who Remained,” which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, as its official entry in the Oscars’ International Feature Film category. Variety’s reviewer described the drama as “achingly tender” and “an exquisite, poignantly performed tale.” Menemsha Films will release the film in North America.

Set in Budapest after the end of World War II, the film centers on the relationship between two Hungarians struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Aladár (Károly Hajduk) is a “gentle but haunted” middle-aged doctor, whose wife and sons died in the concentration camps; Klára (Abigél Szőke) – in furious denial over the loss of her parents – is a 16-year-old “force of nature,” who “storms her way into his life,” Variety film critic Alissa Simon writes in her review.

“[The film] taps into a deep well of honestly earned emotion as it tells the story of two traumatized survivors...

Final Report (Zárójelentés)

A titan of Hungarian cinema, the 80-year-old Istvan Szabo reunites with Austria’s Klaus Maria Brandauer for Final Report (Zárójelentés). The director and star worked together on a lauded trilogy of films in the 1980s, notably 1981’s Mephisto, which took home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 1985’s Colonel Redl and 1988’s Hanussen (both also nominated for Oscars in the same category). The film is produced by Pál Sándor and Attila Tozsér of Film Street and also stars Karoly Eperjes, Eva Kerekes, András Stohl, Dorottya Udvaros, Mari Csomós, Ági Szirtes, Enikő Börcsök, Eszter Csákányi and József Szarvas.…...