Hungary held its own Oscar ceremonies under the illustrious title "Golden Chicken" No, this is not an April Fool's joke!
The five films nominated were:
Valami Amerika "Something Like America"
Uveg Tigris "The Glass Tiger"
Kontrol "Control"
Magyar Vandor "Hungarian Migrant"
Miniszter Ferelep "The Minister's Thryst"
The films are not brand new and since this is the first such event held the guidelines included films that were produced within the last 5 years.
My favorite, by far, was "Valami Amerika" - finally, a truly funny Hungarian comedy with worldly touches in a comfortable way. But hey, I didn't send an SMS vote and the rest of the voters who did thought that "Kontrol" was more deserving of the title. The movie is about the arm banded officials who roam the transit system, checking if passengers have tickets or passes. Yes, it is a comedy of sorts - especially, since Hungarians look at it as somewhat of a joke to be paying for transportation.
SMS messages were recorded between February 15 and March 14 and the results were announced with great fanfare last night.
The winning producer walked away with 50 million forints. The best actor, an old timer - Robert Koltai - was happy to receive the recognition and the three million forints that went with the title.
Don't you wish they came up with a better looking design than a chicken for the award? Why not a Hungarian paprika? How did it get to be a chicken?
That may be answered on another day.
