Hungary has always loved film. Their history is long and varied. Film in Hungary started but a few short years after it did in the US. June 13, 1896 marked the first showing of a film in a converted hat-shop. One Arnold Sziklai hired a mechanic named Mamoussen to run the projector. So started film in Hungary.
Sziklai and Mamoussen also shot the first film in Hungary, at the Millennium Exhibition. The Emperor Franz Joseph was filmed, but not well, and the film was a failure.
Budapest was and still is the center of Hungarian cinematography. After Józef Neumann and Mór Ungerlaider founded the Projector-graph company and the Apollo Cinema, Hungarian cinema took off. Cafes, the social centers of Budapest, often showed films.
During the early era of silent film in Hungary, Michael Curtiz (Mihály Kertész) distinguished himself as one of the most capable directors on Budapest. He defined early Hungarian film. After being a theater actor throughout Europe, he directed in Hungary. In 1914, he served in the army during WWI, and shot much of the war. After the war, he ended up in the US, end eventually directed a huge amount of films, notably Casablanca.
By 1912, one cinema existed per 10,000 Hungarians. In between then and World War I, several companies were formed and over 50 films were produced. Hungarians loved film, but they loved their books even more. As a result, Hungarian film is strongly influenced by literature.
Full article on everything2.com
Further article on filmkultura.hu
