Sziget a szárazföldön (The Lady from Constantinople). 1969. Hungary. Directed by Judit Elek. Screenplay by Iván Mandy. With Manyi Kiss, Éva Almási, Lászlo Básko. New 4K restoration courtesy National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive. World premiere. In Hungarian; English subtitles. 79 min.
This treasure of Hungarian cinema has been almost completely forgotten in the US since its premiere at the 1969 New York Film Festival. Perhaps best known for her documentaries, which won top prizes in Berlin and Locarno, Judit Elek made her startling fiction feature debut with this intoxicating mix of Surrealism and neorealism, the portrait of a lonely old woman in Budapest (Manyi Kiss, who appeared in Zoltán Fábri’s classic 1956 film Merry-Go-Round) who is visited by a steady stream of festive neighbors and strangers when she decides to sell her apartment. The film is distinguished by the vérité handheld camerawork of the great Elemér Ragályi; and the production design of Tamás Banovich, the longtime collaborator of Miklós Jancsó and Márta Mészáros.