| Featuring Gusztáv Harkai Ferenc Horváth Ede Jenkei Ágoston Kosztich Mária Németh András Harkai József Harkai László Kiss Imre Lóránt László Tomai Ferenc Tóthárpád József Tóth Gusztáv Schwahoffer Endre Szerdahelyi Antal VágvölgyiPhotos, archive materials Dániel Berzsenyi Library, Szombathely József Giczy Sr. Ede Jenkei Hungarian National Museum, Photo Archive Széchenyi National Library Könyvtár Wienerberger Brick Factory Corp. Music recorded by |
Instrumentation Egon BalázsNarrator Attila Király Research Post-production Editor Producer and original music Script and interviews Director and cinematographer Supported by © 2005. Metafórum Film, Zsuzsanna Varga |
BORI KRIZA obtained her MA in Sociology and Sociology of Minorities at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary and also studied at the Nationalism Studies Program of the Central European University, Budapest. Currently as a beneficiary of the French Government Scholarship she is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institut dEtudes Politiques de Paris as well as at the Institute of Sociology, ELTE. She participated in numerous research projects; her main research interests include far right political parties and ideologies in Europe, national myths and identity, migration, minorities, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and collective memory. She has published extensively in Hungarian and English, her reports and articles appear regularly in the Hungarian press. Since 1999, as expert, researcher, interviewer, she has contributed to several award winning documentaries treating social issues (Being Decorated, The End of the Road, From Home to Home by Tamás Almási).
BALÁZS WIZNER is the director of METAFORUM Media and Research Center. He graduated as a sociologist, got his Masters degree in Nationalism Studies at CEU (Central European University, Budapest) and has been a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Sociology, Eötvös Loránd University Budapest since 1998. Apart from participating in several research projects and academic activities Balazs Wizner had been the script-writer and co-producer for a short film (Three walks, 2003) and the publisher of two books (A palacsinta hangja The Sound of Pancake. Collected Writings of Gypsy Children from a Ghetto-Village, 1999. A pilóta The pilot. Novel, 2000). His second novel will be published in fall 2005. He was the composer of a theater play and a short film, he plays the trumpet and writes music for his own jazz band. He is currently producing three documentary films.
Press – Translations by Katica Avvakumovits
JEWISH HERITAGE EUROPE
Hungary: Restoration of the hauntingly beautiful, long-abandoned synagogue in Kőszeg has begun
2020. Oct. 23.
Filmvilág (monthly print magazine)
2014. October – György Báron: There Was Once… Hungarian documentaries about the Holocaust
Click the logo for the article in Hungarian (translation to come).
Broward Jewish Journal (Florida, USA)
2006. 10. 19. Phyllis Steinberg: Film depicts Hungarian Holocaust eyewitnesses
(about Fort Lauderdale Filmfestival)
Click the image for a larger view.
PILPUL – an alternative Jewish webzine by Marom Klub Egyesület
2006. 04. 30. Szarka Judit: Tactfulness and accuracy
Viewer’s thoughts about Zsuzsanna Varga’s documentary, Once They Were Neighbours
Click the logo for the article in Hungarian (translation to come).
Élet és Irodalom (a cultural weekly)
2006. 02. 17. Lóránt Stőhr: In Polyphony. About the documentaries of the 37th Hungarian Film Week
“In the documentary Once They Were Neighbours, director Zsuzsanna Varga has taken a new approach toward the Holocaust. Instead of focusing on victims and survivors, Varga is curious about the eyewitnesses: what was the experience of the bystanders, of those who were neighbors of the deported Jews? The citizens of Kőszeg participating in the interviews are surprisingly willing to share their memories, yet clearly distance themselves from any personal, emotional connection. In some cases, this distancing may be the only way they can finally confess to the reporters the terrible burden they have carried for more than 50 years. Once They Were Neighbours, however, deals not only with the past; it also draws attention to the persistent, present-day denial of Hungarian society’s responsibility for the Holocaust. In the film, declarations blaming the Germans for the crimes serve to spotlight current attitudes: enduring anti-Semitism lends an edge to every word and gesture concerning the Jews. The reminiscences, the troubling question of “What would I have done in their place?”, and dramatic denials are juxtaposed with present-day attitudes toward the Holocaust, and the mixture results in some bizarre and affecting moments. The debate at a local patriotic men’s club over whether a gas chamber ever existed; the small-mindedness surrounding the construction of the Holocaust memorial; the obsessiveness of the man bent upon excavating the mass graves: these scenes all serve to underscore the fact that this community’s experience of dealing with the past remains contradictory and incomplete.”
Click the image to read article (in Hungarian).
Film.hu (Hungarian film industry website)
2006. 01. 30. András Surányi: Group Therapy – analysis
“Zsuzsanna Varga: Once They Were Neighbours – A brave and very sensitive film, in which the filmmaker is able to depict the everyday nature of horror, in which horror’s totality builds up from the seemingly weightless gestures of our small betrayals and our tiny helplessnesses.”
Click the logo for the full article (in Hungarian).
Filmkultúra (Hungarian website – film related news, interviews, critiques)
2006. 02. 01. Lóránt Stőhr: Keeping Their Distance. Interview with director Zsuzsanna Varga
Click here for the translation.
Click the logo for the full article (in Hungarian).
Magyar Narancs (Hungarian print weekly)
2005. 05. 05. Erzsébet Bori: On the Sidelines. Review of the documentary
Click the article for full size (in Hungarian) or the logo for the online version.
Click here for the translation.
Magyar Narancs (Hungarian print weekly)
2005. 05. 19. On the Sidelines – A commentary in response to “On the sidelines,” a review of Zsuzsanna Varga’s film “Once They Were Neighbours,” by Erzsebet Bori [borie], published on 2005. 05. 05. in Magyar Narancs. By Júlia Vajda
Click the article for full size (in Hungarian).
Click here for the translation.
Nők Lapja Évszakok (Hungarian monthly magazine)
2005. June
Marcsi Fodor: Such a Life
Like in the Movies. Professional portrait of Zsuzsanna Varga
Click the article for full size (in Hungarian).
Click here for the translation.
Film.hu (Hungarian film industry website)
2005. 05. 23. Emese Szlanárs: At the Last Minute – Interview with Zsuzsanna Varga
Click the logo for the full article (in Hungarian).
Click here for the translation.
Klubrádió (Hungarian commercial radio channel)
2005. 07. 30. Zsuzsa Kun and Kristóf Németh: Klubdélelott (Cultural Talk Show) – Interview with Zsuzsanna Varga
(translation to come)