07-03-2008

A cinema for documentaries opens in Budapest

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    A cinema for documentaries opened in Budapest this week. The DocuArt project is a comprehensive film distribution concept that aims to increase cooperative efforts within the documentary film industry as well as attract a larger audience for Hungarian and foreign productions.

    Palantir Film Foundation (www.palantirfilm.hu) will operate this non-profit vehicle in the former Count Almassy Palace. which will provide audiences with direct access to documentary films.

    "We aim to fill one of the greatest gaps in film distribution in Hungary by making a significant numbers of Hungarian and European documentary films available to the widest possible audience," says a statement on the website (http://docuart.hu/docuart/en/introduction)

    The website has ambitious goals.

    "We want to create a film centre that offers an inviting atmosphere to filmmakers as well as those with an interest in film and students," the organisers said in a statement. "It will be an inspirational space with exciting activities and opportunities where films can be viewed and produced and where everyone can play an active part."

    The Film Collection is designed to be a non-profit archive created to preserve and catalogue Hungarian documentary films. Operation of the archive requires documentary films to be donated to the archive by their legal owners.

    With the appropriate paperwork in place, the DocuArt Film Collection will store the film, preserve it and prepare a copy that can be viewed on site. This will mean that anyone will be able to view a film that interests them at any time.