As probably my last entry in this blog, I'm recommending you another festival: Budapest Palinka Festival. The event is traditionally organized during the second weekend of May, and similarly to last year, more than 300 different types of palinka will be presented, and probably drunk, too.:) There won't be only drinking, though, as the visitors can taste the most delicious and mouth-watering Hungarian sausages, jams, cheese- and coffee-specialities, and other traditional Hungarian foods, too. The festival will be held between May 7-10th, hosted by the City Hall. For further entertainment and fun, concerts will be held too. Programme: Thursday: Kiscsillag Firday: Roy és Ádám, Vázsonyi János, Takáts Eszter és a Gumizsuzsi, Anselmo Crew Saturday: Csángó Reinhardt, Hot Club of Hungary, Roots Kompakt, Parno Graszt, Besh o Drom Sunday: Club Era, De jajj!, Maszkura és a Tücsökraj, Folk Error, Kerekes Band
The Polish Institution of Budapest together with Budapest Film Company organizes the festival of contemporary Polish films for the 15th time. The programs will be held from May 7th until May 15th in Művész cinema is Budapest, while in Szeged in Belvárosi cinema. Five new films will be shown, of which four comedies, furthermore, are special animation films will be screened, too. The opening film will be Lukas Palkowski’s Protected Zone (Rezerwat) which is a bittersweet comedy. Moreover, we can see Lech Majewski’s Glass Lips (Szklane uste), Andrzej Jakimowski’s Tricks (Szhtuczki) and Thomas Konecki’s Ladies (Lejdis), too. For the detailed program, please visit: www.polinst.hu/
Being a big fan of movies, I love going to cinema; in fact, I try to go to at least twice a week. However, most of the time, I only get to see the newest films, as only they are shown in cinemas. Somehow the old classics have become forgotten, most of the picture-theatres don’t even think about scheduling them.
Once again, we are lucky to live in Budapest, as you can find several cinemas in the city, and at least one of them shows old classics regularly. Örökmozgó, it is, which can be found on Erzsébet körút.
This Sunday afternoon (May 10th) from 4.30PM a legendary film will be shown: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Is anybody out there who’s not familiar with this classic? Well, for them, here is a little synopsis:
Struggling writer Paul Varjak moves into a New York apartment building and becomes intrigued by his pretty, quirky neighbor Holly Golightly. Holly's lifestyle confuses and fascinates Paul; in public she flits through parties with a sexy, sophisticated air, but when they're alone she changes into a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses.
The character of Holly Golightly is played by the stunning Audrey Hepburn who, for many, is the most beautiful actress in the history of film. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was made in 1961, it became a huge success, immedately, and later on it won 3 Academy Awards.
So, it you haven’t seen it, here is the chance, you should not miss it!:)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s will be shown on Sunday, May 10th, from 4.30PM in Örökmozgó
On May 15-16-17th, Ráday Street, the Cultstreet of Budapest will welcome Plein Art – The Festival of Contemporary Arts. The event has quite a long history, as it is held for the 11th time, and just as in last year, Plein Art is organized by Erlin Gallery and sponsored by the local government of Ferencváros. In this year, the main guest of the festival is Russia; thus, a big portion of the focus will be on Russian contemporary fine arts.
The musical, literary and performance events will take place outdoors in Ráday Street; furthermore, exhibitions will open in every hour. The visitors will have the chance to see the works of front-rank Russian and Hungarian contemporary arists, such as: Nyikolay Kopeykin, Sargsyan Hovan, and Olga Kisseleva from Russia, while Hungary is represented by Péter Markus, József Gaál and László Szotyori.
If you decide to visit Ráday Street during those three days, be aware that you can became a part of the statue exhibition that takes place outside onthe street any second; moreover, you can bump into an outdoors improvised performance, or into an art flag exhibition, too. The atmosphere will certainly be very artistic and magical, with a hint of Russian virtue and the insanity of contemporary art. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
Do you know what URBITÁLIS is? Well, it’s a month-long festival that involves the whole of Budapest. The most important purpose of Urbitális is to show how rich, multi-faceted and complex not only the Hungarian culture, but its society, too. This year the main theme is the capital itself, which involves and introduces its districts, bigger squares, parks, and other establishments as well. Moreover, several theatres, cinemas, cafes, restaurants, national and private firms will take part in it.
Urbitális offers diverse entertainment, thus, demonstrates the progress Budapest has made culturally in the previous years. Consequently, in its schedule you will not only find the usual conferences, exhibitions, and workshops, but thought-provoking discussions, local walks, and bicycle trips will be organized, too.
Furthermore, the residents of Budapest will have the chance to get to know the institutions which serve the community (such as the waterworks, fire stations, and bus garages) in a way that they have never seen them before. Numerous trips will be organized to different museums and other cultural institutions, but to other fairly unusual locations, too.
So, the Budapesti Urbanisztika Majális started on May 1st, and several events are on schedule up until May 31st.
For further information and a detailed schedule, please visit: urbitalis.hu/hu/
This time I would like to recommend you an unusual festival that will take place in Budapest on 24th April, 2009. "Mozifanatikusok éjszakája", organized for the second time after a huge success last year, is a once-in-a-year opportunity for those who are interested in taking part in a movie-marathon. Sponsored by Pallace Cinemas, movie fans will have the chance to watch as many movies as they can during a 24-hour period: from 6MP on 24th until 6AM on 25th April. Although the price of the ticket to enter the cinema is 1990 HUF, you only have to pay for it once and then you can watch unlimited number of movies. ( However, pay attention to the fact, that this year you can watch movies only in that cinema where you buy your ticket. Tickets are sold from April 1.) In 2009, 5 cinemas decided to participate in "Mozifanatikusok Éjszakája", four of those are in Budapest, the ones that can be found in Mammut shopping center, Westend City Center, Lurdy Ház, and Duna Pláza, while the fifth one is Palace Cinema in Nyíregyháza. A website to the event has already been created and can be found at: www.mozifanatikusok.hu. However, it is certainly not ready yet, as no information can be found about the festival - not even the date of it or which cinemas will participate- but only a countdown: you can see how many seconds are left until the big night. As "Mozifanatikusok Éjszakája" will be in three weeks and the tickets are already being sold, I wish they provided a bit more information than that, for example it would be useful to see the list of movies that will be shown, so the ones who are as crazy about movies and going to the cinema as I am could plan ahead. Anyone planning to attend the event? I think it's a great chance to see the films that are currently on schedule as well as the ones you have missed in the past few months, as older successes will be back on screen again.
I’m going to recommend you an exhibition today, too; however, we have got a much higher chance to visit it as the ones dedicated to Abraham Lincoln in New York. This time I’m talking about the Princess Diana exhibition held in Karolyi-Csekonics Residence, in the central of Budapest which is opened on 31st January, 2009. As its title, Diana – A Celebration, suggests, this show celebrates the life and work of Princess Diana by showing 150 exhibits to the public. All of them are Diana’s personal belongings, items she owned from her childhood to her tragic death, such as her royal wedding gown, jewelry, and designer outfits as well as letters and other family memorabilia. The exhibition is open until 3rd May, 2009, from Monday to Sunday, 10Am-8PM. The exact address of the Károlyi Csekonics Rezidencia is:Múzeum utca 17.Budapest1088I’m wondering whether any of you have visited it already. What did you think of it? Is it worth going? I’m planning to go see it in the next couple of weeks; I might share my thoughts with you about it.For further information check this out:http://www.eventim.hu/portal/en/other/exhibition/diana_a_celebration/46894/
Welcome to Random Thoughts of a Scriboholic where I mostly write about the books I read, share my travel photos and the occasional musings on life. All messages are welcome at cziffraandi@gmail.com.