Main programme  

Judgement in Hungary is a court-room drama about the trial of the four-member team of serial killers, who during the course of one year killed several Roma people, and were charged of serial killing with racial motivation. The film is taking place in a small and claustrophobic court room in Budapest. At the start of the trial, the victims and next of kin assume there will be justice, and they have faith that the Hungarian authorities will protect them. But will the extremists be found guilty in a Hungarian society where anti-Roma sentiment is so widespread?  

In the amphitheatre-like space, a prolonged contemporary Greek tragedy is taking place, only the faces of those present lack masks. One can notice even the tiniest eye movements of judges, murders, their caretakers, victims, and witnesses. In this court it seems that victims switched their places with the defendants; in this court where murders proudly enter the courtroom as national heroes, and where the families of victims cringe of fear for being Roma. The director bravely shows what attitude towards Roma people prevail in Hungary, and that such an attitude is openly demonstrated even in a judicial institution. S. Ž.  

Awards

Prague One World Film Festival – Best Film Award (2014)
Trieste Film Festival – Central European Initiative Award (2014)
 
Eszter Hajdú
 
Having studied sociology and nationalism, received training in film-making in Italy and Romania, Eszter Hajdú is now doing her PhD as a film director in Portugal. She has worked continuously in journalism since the age of 18, as a reporter, editor and program director, in the print media, radio and television alike, while also working for film productions. In her films she regularly focuses on people and groups who are excluded by their societies.
 
Selected Filmography
 
Vivien (2011)
Demon Hands (2010)
Lullaby – MS3 Tour in Romania (2009)
My Own Private Tarnabod (2006)