STATÁRIUM. Kulak Trials in Film and Fiction Novels
STATÁRIUM. Kulak Trials in Film and Fiction Novels
film screening + discussion + book signing
Statárium (1989, d: András Sipos)
- screenwriter: Pál Závada
- cinematographer: Károly Ari
- documentary film / 96 minutes
The documentaries made around 1989 have attracted audiences of hundreds of thousands. These films offered the public a revealing insight into the lawlessness of the 1950s, shedding light on its victims and perpetrators. The documentary Statárium examines the statutory trials of three landowners—referred to as “kulaks” in the terminology of the time—who were accused of deliberate arson in 1949–50. How did Sándor Molnár of Köröstarcsa end up innocently on the gallows? Why did Károly Gyáni flee from testifying and ultimately commit suicide? How did János Dancsó from Fábiánsebestyén narrowly escape death? And how did Pál Lehoczky from Tótkomlós become an informer for the secret police?
Q&A
The screening of Statárium will be followed by a Q&A session.
Guests: Pál Závada (writer) and Gyula Gazdag (film director).
Moderator: András Mink (historian).
Admission is free but registration is necessary:
Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
About the event
In December 2024, the personal papers of film director András Sipos were added to Blinken OSA Archivum. This collection includes not only film scripts, essays, and correspondence, but also unique audiovisual materials: raw, unedited footage, sound recordings, and photos relating to the film Statárium. Following cataloging and digitization, the Archivum will make Sipos’s collection publicly accessible.
In the fall of 2024, Pál Závada published his latest novel, Pernye és fű (Ashes and Grass). The novel’s characters are sociologists filming a documentary film in Békés county in 1988–1989 about farmers accused of arson in the 1950s. While Závada asserts that the storyline and the characters in Pernye és fű are fictitional, the interviews they conduct within the novel are real.
The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions about the boundaries between fact and fiction, as well as explore the creative processes behind the making of a film and a successful novel.
Program curator: Zsuzsa Zádori, Blinken OSA Archivum.
More information: Nóra Bertalan: bertalan@ceu.edu; +3630271 2709
The screening is part of Blinken OSA Archivum’s ‘collection highlights’ events series.
It is a Hungarian language event; no translation is provided.
