Hungarian Masters (Limited Edition 3-disc Blu-ray Box Set)

Second Run presents a selection of essential works by Hungarian cinema's most renowned filmmakers. This special limited edition box set contains these celebrated films from stunning new 4K restorations and released for the first time ever on Blu-ray.

The set includes Zoltán Fábri’s Merry-Go-Round (Körhinta, 1955), István Gaál’s Current (Sodrásban, 1963) and Miklós Jancsó’s Agnus Dei (Égi bárány, 1970).

Merry-Go-Round (Körhinta)
Zoltán Fábri's beloved film is considered one of the finest in all of Hungarian cinema. A love story set against the rural backdrop of communist farming collectives, a young girl (the late, great Mari Törőcsik in her film debut) falls for farm worker Máté, but is betrothed by her domineering father to another man.

This pastoral on Romeo and Juliet is a rich and achingly beautiful work, framed by the turbulent changes in society taking place at that time.

Often cited as the first film of the Hungarian New Wave, István Gaál’s haunting existential drama contemplates the transience of youth and the impermanence of memory. Echoing Antonioni’s L'Avventura and Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Current is a powerful and lyrical work that serves as a lament for a generation.

Agnus Dei (Égi bárány)
Miklós Jancsó’s symbolic re-enactment of Hungary’s 1919 revolution and counter-revolution is another virtuoso display of cinematic skill and artistry, turning history into theatre.

The film explores political upheaval, oppression and the complicity of the Church, in this refined, complex allegory of the rise of fascism in Hungary. The dazzling Agnus Dei marks a transition from Jancsó’s more traditional narrative films of the 1960s, to the more experimental and provocative works of the 1970s.

• Merry-Go-Round (Körhinta), Current (Sodrásban), and Agnus Dei (Égi bárány) presented from new 4K restorations by the National Film Institute Film Archive, Hungary
• Merry-Go-Round 1955 screen tests
• An archival interview with Miklós Jancsó (1987)
• Award-winning Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó on the influence and cinematic legacy of Zoltán Fábri
• Tisza - Autumn Sketches (Tisza - Őszi vázlatok, 1962): director István Gaál’s acclaimed short film observing autumn descend along the river Tisza.
• A new filmed appreciation of Current
• The restoration of Merry-Go-Round
• Trailers
• Individual booklets with new writing on each film by Hungarian cinema experts John Cunningham, Peter Hames and Tony Rayns
• New and improved English subtitle translations
• World premieres release on Blu-ray
• Region-free Blu-rays (A/B/C)