This year's jury
Zsuzsanna Bak (HUNGARY)
Zsuzsanna Bak is a Hungarian writer, director and story editor. After graduating in Classical Philology and English Literature, her first feature as a film writer, Curtiz (distributed by Netflix Global), won the Grand Prix in Montreal.
Order and Soul, her directorial debut documentary about illegal nuns during the communist regime, won Grand Prix at Religion Today Film Festival and was competing in Astra Film Festival. Uncle Zsiga debuted in TIFF, Mentor won Best Writing in BELIFF. If Once was named as Best Hungarian Short Film in BuSho. Piano for New Beginners is her first narrative short film as a writer-director, starting its festival tour from 2023 fall. Besides teaching film writing and directing in EKKE and ELTE universities, she is a constant applicant and participant in international labs and forums (Series Mania, Midpoint, Eastweek, Cartoon Movies et al.).
Dez O'Connell (UK)
Dez graduated from Bristol University with a BA in English literature. A professional actor in the 90’s in theatre and television, now a bar and drinks consultant in this region, having been an award-winning bartender and manager in the UK.
Balázs Szövényi-Lux (HUNGARY)
Balázs Szövényi-Lux is a film director and screenwriter. He has been making films since he was a child: he struggled alone with the elements for a long time, he knows all the beautiful and terrible aspects of creation.
He was a member of the student jury and was also in competition at BUSHO: his short fiction Katapult started its journey here, ending up winning several awards including the Best Short at the Chicago Children’s Film Festival. In April of this year, his first feature film, The First Two, was released, which won the award for the Best Independent European Drama in Paris.
Wolfgang Leis (HunGERy)
A hot short one can be better than a long cold one. It’s true for drinks, and even more true for films. We’ll be serving up some intoxicating short ones during the five-day BuSho-Experience-Trip. I’m looking forward to seeing you there!
Gyimesi Domonkos (SZFE)
I make films both as a director and an actor; it’s good to know both sides of the camera.
Semszi Zriki (METU)
My name is Semszi Zriki and like many others, I am trying to enrich the film industry.
Szabó Dávid András (ELTE)
I prefer subtle things.
Tamás Ivády (MOME)
I’m Tamás Ivády, I graduated at MOME Anim MA in June and I’m currently a freelance animation designer.
Levente Galambos /pre-jury coordinator/
cinematographer, ex and soon-to-be artistic-engineering student with four years of pre-jury experience.
“I welcome sho(r)ts in a glass and on the screen too.”
Ágnes Böjte
graduated from SZTE in 2003 with a degree in communication and in 2013 from MOME with a degree in media design. She has worked as a television editor, assistant in feature and documentary films, and as a production manager. She led and edited a film radio show for seven years, currently teaches film production at METU and leads the film club for mobile universities at Trafó.
‘‘Everything connects. Everything separates. Our anxieties, our desires, our fears, our pains, our losses, our loves are all universal. In the tinyness of the characters in this year’s films, we can also recognise ourselves, and there is always something relieving in that.”
Anna Dóra Laky
I’m a screenwriter and director. My short film “Left the bicycle behind” was in the selection of BUSHO last year, this is how I ended up in the pre-jury. I watched and treated the films the same way I would prefer my film to be treated.
“I watched an astonishing amount of good films. For me, it was really sad to see how most of the films were about war, aggression and hopelessness, no matter which part of the world they come from. “
Annaida Orosz
graduated from the Faculty of Arts of the Eötvös Loránd University in 2011 with a degree in film history and English. She is currently a student at the Doctoral Program in Film, Media and Cultural Theory there. Her research interests include the theory of animated documentaries and the history of Hungarian animated films.
“The animations in the competition programme of BuSho 2023 are sometimes insanely playful and other times grippingly expressive. They take us to places both familiar and unfamiliar: some are light and joyful, others are profoundly poignant or deeply disturbing.”
Bertalan Balla
I am a second-year cameraman student at Budapest Metropolitan University. I have been making motion pictures for 5 years.
“It was a great experience to “travel” the world through these short films. From the edge to the length, from the depths to the heights.”
Bianka Farkas
I’m 18 years old and I’m currently studying animation and cinematography. I’ve been involved in a number of film projects, working in various positions from assistant to director. I’m an ’omnivore’, I can be touched by the work of beginners and professionals alike – if it’s got a big enough heart, I’ll buy it, hehe.
“This gave me such amazing movie experiences, and although after the hundredth movie I started to understand: “Too much of a good thing is definitely that: too much.”, in the end all that mattered was that the atmospheres of the different worlds still had such an important effect on me.”
Dávid Korom
I have been working as a freelance drone pilot and cameraman for 8 years based in Budapest. I studied Energy engineering at BME, where I dealt with the industrial use of drones. The industrial line soon took a film direction and I was involved in making aerial photographs in short films, already during university and this continues to these days. My father is a cinematographer, so image creation has been close to me since childhood.
“During the judging process, it was special to see the dramas of people living all over the world, which were not so different. However, the implementation and vision were more diverse.”
Gergely Riba
I am Gergely Riba, 33 years old film director and musician. I graduated from the Pázmány Faculty of Arts, Budapest. This year I’m graduating with an MA in film directing at the SZFE, Budapest. I have lived in England, America and Norway and Hungary. With 6 short films and a documentary behind me, I am preparing for my next shoot.
“It was a great experience to be a pre-jury member at the 2023 BuSho. There were a lot of exciting films to watch, some were quite “mind-numbing”. The field was extremely diverse, with some real treats among Eastern European films.”
Júlia Lantos
I was born in Budapest, Hungary. I graduated, both BA & MA, in animation at the Budapest Metropolitan University. Currently I teach drawing, work as a freelancer as animator in various animation films and as an illustrator as well.
“It seems to me, that European and also American movies focus more on humans’ everyday problems. They are interested in social, psychological, and mostly gender questions. What I found much more interesting were the Asian movies. They use their imagination, creativity, and symbols so bravely. They transform scenes very freely after each other, which gives a very fresh style to their movies. I think we could learn a lot from them.”
Lilla Gulyás
My name is Lilla Gulyás, I am currently doing my master film studies at ELTE. Previously, I studied animation at MOME. I am obsessed with movies. I have been fascinated by them since I was a child, and even now I am completely absorbed and transfixed by them.
“That’s why I’m here. Because this is magic and yet a reality.
Thank you for participating this year and flying me into this magical world!”
Tímea Tánczos
former BuSho Student Jury member, who was delegated to us in 2016 from the Department of Motion Picture Culture and Media Studies at the Metropolitan University. Now works as a video content producer and director in Budapest.
“This year, young filmmakers took the spotlight. I saw some very interesting films in the selection. There were many poignant and beautiful stories and some of my personal favourites, shorter works with a grotesque sense of humour.
The international jury will have a tough job this season, that’s for sure.”
Zoltán Debreczeni
I was born in Budapest, 1990. I studied in the Animation Director and Art and Design Teacher master program at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. Before, took several workshops and training to improve my filmmaking skills. I’m currently working as a freelancer animation film director, compositor, illustrator, motion picture teacher, character, and motion graphic designer.
“I had the opportunity to meet with countless perspectives, subjects and interesting visual concepts during the judging process, where it’s diversity was fascinating.”
