10th Budapest International Documentary Festival films in Szeged
A selection of the 10th Budapest International Documentary Festival (BIDF) films will be screened at Belvárosi Mozi in Szeged between January 31 and February 4, 2024.
BIDF, a competition festival for the best documentaries from all over the world, celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2024. In Budapest, the festival opens on January 27, while the screenings in 10 other cities across Hungary — including in Szeged — start a few days later.
The theme of the 2024 documentary festival is "What did you make of your past 10 years?" referring to the 10th anniversary of BIDF.
"Our 10 years, in our country, with our fight, our desires, our secrets, and our faith, were spent bringing the world's most prestigious films to Hungary — to the audience. The past 10 years are symbolized by 10-year-old children on our platforms because the way 10 years pass in the life of a society or a person really makes a difference," the organizers write.
The festival offers over 200 screenings this year, including Academy Award-nominated documentaries. In Budapest, BIDF 2024 will feature a selection of Hungarian films from the last 10 years (Best of BIDF).
In the international competition program, selected documentaries compete in two main categories — feature-length and short films. The feature-length category has five subcategories: Your Country, Your Fight, Your Secret, Your Faith, and Your Desire. Competition films will be rated by a 25-member jury consisting of leading international and Hungarian artists and creators.
All of the documentaries of BIDF 2024 will be screened in their original language, with Hungarian and English subtitles. After some of the films, the audience will have the opportunity to reflect on the topic and engage with the film's ambassadors and experts in the field in the form of roundtable talks. These roundtable talks will also take place in Szeged and will be in Hungarian.
BIDF 2024 Program at Belvárosi Mozi, Szeged
Wednesday, January 31Screening in Spanish, with ENG and HUN subtitles
Start time: 18:00
Thursday, February 1Screening in Swedish, with ENG and HUN subtitles
Start time: 18:00
Friday, February 2Screening in Russian, with ENG and HUN subtitles
Start time: 18:00
Saturday, February 3Screening in English, with HUN subtitles
Start time: 14:30
Screening in Bulgarian, with ENG and HUN subtitles
Start time: 17:00
Screening in Ukrainian, with ENG and HUN subtitles
Start time: 19:30
Sunday, February 4Screening in Icelandic, with ENG and HUN subtitles
Start time: 16:00
Screening in Hindi, with ENG and HUN subtitles
Start time: 18:15
For more info, visit the website of Belvárosi Mozi
The future of BIDF is under threat
"Since our 10-year existence, many times together with you, with your help, with hundreds of volunteers, working with serious thrift and enthusiasm, not knowing the impossible, we have at all costs created the basic budget that is absolutely necessary for the organization of a quality international film festival, the BIDF. This is now under threat, we currently have no chance of organizing the next BIDF." — the organizers of the film festival announced on their website.
"The financial support from the state (the Hungarian National Film Institute), which has always been undeservedly and humiliatingly low without justification, is only 15% of our minimum budget this year. We know from years of experience that approx. from which sources we can supplement the state support, but, regarding the possibilities, we know that without the help of society, it is impossible to organize the BIDF, the quality of which has only increased over the years. We want to say that we are not giving up. There can be no BIDF. You love it, we love it." — reads the announcement.
Those who wish to support the future of the film festival can find BIDF on Patreon
