Kutya éji dala (The Dog’s Night Song), 1983 Dir. Gábor Bódy 145 mins In Hungarian with English subtitles Presented with Balassi Institute—Hungarian Cultural Center Restored DCP courtesy of the Hungarian National Film Archive
Widely considered one of the unsung giants of Eastern European cinema, Bódy reached a new peak with this strange tale of a priest making door-to-door visits in a small Hungarian town. An acerbic indictment of socialism, the film includes rare appearances by the bands Bizottság and Vágtázo Halottkémek, whose “shamanic” version of punk still appears remarkably ahead of its time. Topped off by Johanna Herr’s visionary cinematography combining video and Super-8 with 35mm film, this is a truly one-of-a-kind experience steeped in metaphysics and anarchy.
A discussion and Q&A with Eszter Zsofia Toth, historian of 80s Hungarian counterculture, will follow the screening.
