“Let's Go to the Movies!” – Hungarian film posters reimagined

Date: 2024.05.02
Top Hat and Spuds Nose, Time Stands Still, Dollybirds, Father, The Tot Family – these timeless Hungarian classics have been given exciting contemporary posters by illustration students of MOME's Graphic Design programme in a course co-organised by the National Film Institute and Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. The posters are displayed at the MOME Zugligeti Campus and the Corvin Cinema, where the fully restored films can also be viewed on the silver screen.

From the early days of cinema, film posters have been instrumental in connecting audiences with films. They are the first graphic works to speak to potential viewers, spark their interest, and influencing their decision whether to go see the film or not. As a key visual genre, film posters are essential for graphic designers to know and master, and are pivotal in making or breaking a film.  

As part of an initiative of the National Film Institute, twenty-one students from the illustration specialisation of MOME's Graphic Design programme undertook the challenge to create fresh designs for these film classics. Over the past months, the students revisited influential films such as István Szabó's Father (1966), Zoltán Fábri's The Toth Family (1969), István Bácskai Lauró's Bowler Hat and Spud Nose (1978), Péter Gothár's Time Stands Still (1982), and Péter Tímár's Dollybirds (1997). Using the “Alapfilmek” (Must-See) online film history platform of the Film Institute, they explored the history and visual worlds of these films, inspiring their designs.

 

The resulting collection of contemporary posters place these classic films in a new context while continuing the rich tradition of Hungarian poster art. These unique designs fulfil the original goals of the poster genre, and at the same time are independent artistic works.  

 

The design process was guided by head of MOME's Illustration specialization László Nagy, co-consultant teacher and illustrator/graphic designer Tóth Andrej, and theoretical teacher and curator Máté Gorka-Focht. Together, they oversaw the creation of fifty intriguing film posters for the selected movies.

 

Designers of the Old Films, New Posters project:

Nora Korina Baksa, Kitti Deák, Luca Gatos, Karina Grandpierre, Emese Dorottya Ilosvai, Kinga Imre, Liza Aliz Klapka, Zoltán Kovács, Flóra Lázár, Boglárka Nagy, Patrik Pauer, Hanna Kata Petrovszki, Greta Zia Pintér, Noemi Ring, Fruzsina Schnell, David Solyom Sogor, Szonja Somogyvari, Petra Szalai, Lilla Szaloki, Alexandra-Andreea Taar, Beatrix Zsiros.  

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