Hungary – Anna Járai, Budapest Film (Budapest)

Hungary - Anna Járai

Cinema for me is…

Anna in 23 Frames

1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Seemingly organised mess who dreams of dancing above the clouds.

2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Best: when I’m passionate about something, I give all of myself to it.
Worst: being late.

3. Your dream job?
Art director.

4. What do you like most about your country?
I love how even the air smells like nostalgia here.

5. Your favorite dish in your country?
My grandma’s pancakes.

6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
Kandalló – it means ’fireplace’ in hungarian.

7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Prague.

8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
France.

9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Acceptance, diversity, open-mindedness.

10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001, JP).

11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
Művész Mozi – a relatively small, arthouse cinema in Budapest, with uniquely decorated rooms named after famous director.

12. Who is your movie hero?
Amélie from Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001, FR).

13. Which movie director would you like to be?
Jean-Luc Godard.

14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
It really is a tough choice, but a scene that always gets me is one in Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965, FR) where the two main characters try to have a serious conversation on the beach. The scene starts with the girl walking towards the camera, singing about how she doesn’t know what to do. She approaches the guy, who is sitting on a worn-down pier, scribbling something in his journal, with a bright blue parrot by his side. As she gets closer, he asks her to stop singing, so that he can focus on his writing. He then goes on to read a few lines out loud, as the girl finds her way up and sits next to him. We see a closeup of his writings, right before his focus shifts. He notices the grim look on the girl’s face and asks her what’s wrong, to which she explains that the reason she feels sad is that he talks to her with words and she looks at him with feelings. He makes her talk more, trying to understand what makes them not understand each other, but they both realise it might not even be possible, so she gets down and starts walking away while singing the same melody as before.

15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Bad Poems (Gábor Reisz, 2018, HU)
Ruben Brandt, a gyűjtő (Milorad Kristić, 2018, HU)
Zimna wojna (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018, PL)

16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Céline from Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995, US).

17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
The soundtrack of The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, 2007, US).

18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960, IT).

19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Saoirse Ronan.

20. Which talent would you most like to have?
Singing – the one thing I always wanted to be good at, but was never really was.

21. What is your most treasured possession?
My diary.

22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Having had the courage to stand up for myself when I had to.

23. What is your motto?
“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” Hermann Hesse

Anna Járai, is the Ambassador of Budapest Film. Find out more about the Cinemas here.