The 45th Hungarian Film Week took place from 2 to 8 February 2026 at the Corvin Cinema in Budapest, where more than 150 films competed in ten categories, alongside a rich program of professional events, screenings, and discussions. A jury composed by Interfilm Hungary, SIGNIS, and the Jewish community observed the feature film selection to choose the winner of the Interfaith Award. Comprising 19 films, it presented a surprisingly coherent picture from a religious and spiritual perspective. A significant number of the films raised deeply spiritual questions, primarily on ethical, existential, and metaphysical levels. The transcendent rarely appeared as a clear answer or a clearly identifiable authority; instead, it functioned more often as absence, longing, moral pressure, or an inner compass. Overall, the Film Week clearly outlined a post-religious, yet not post-spiritual Hungarian film culture.
Members of the Interfaith Jury of the 45th Hungarian Film Week were András Petrik – cinematographer, director, screenwriter, and historian with several decades of experience in filmmaking (SIGNIS delegate); Gabriella Rácsok – Reformed theologian and minister, member of the board of Interfilm Hungary, with experiences in international ecumenical juries; and György Gábor – philosopher and historian of religion, Head of the Department of Cultural and Intellectual History at Jewish Theological Seminary – University of Jewish Studies.
The Interfaith Jury Award was presented to the film Orphan (Árva), directed by László Nemes, with the following motivation: “Through the perspective of a little boy, the film shows how 20th-century Hungarian history—the Holocaust, the 1956 revolution, and the reprisals that followed—destroys both family relationships and the relationship with God. Genocide not only entails human loss, but also brings about the rupture of the intergenerational tradition of faith. From the fragmented memory of a child growing up without a father and without tradition, an idol is formed: a boiler takes the place of the vanished father and of God, who has grown distant through historical catastrophes. Yet the film does not end at the point of hatred and loss of identity. Hope emerges: the desire to reconnect with the Jewish faith of the ancestors, and within the fragility of childhood memory, the order of forgiveness appears—one that transcends the inhuman logic of power.”
The Grand Prix of the 45th Hungarian Film Week went to the comedy „Szenvedélyes nök” (Passionate Women), directed by Gábor Herendi, the award for the Best Short Film to “Capriccio” by Gábor Ulrich.