YOU HAVE TO BE HERE TO BELIEVE
documentary film, 50 min, Hungarian with English subtitles
Being different feels increasingly uncomfortable and dangerous in Hungary, but a small group of human rights activists take on the government in an unprecedented campaign to defend LGBTQI rights.
To be free is to be able to define what a family is for you, to marry who you love, to raise the children as you see fit. None of it applies to Hungary where the rights of LGBTQI people have been systematically curtailed over the last years, culminating in a 2021 law that blurs the boundaries between being gay and pedophilia, prohibits the spread of any LGBTQI-related information to minors and withdraws the right of unmarried people to adoption. To add the facade of legitimacy to the process the government called a referendum with a set of 4 manipulative questions and a nationwide Putin-style propaganda campaign calling on the need to protect Hungarian children. In a counter-move, a small group of human rights defenders appeals to solidarity and kindness in a first of its kind campaign to overturn the referendum - a mission impossible in a country with captured media and the courts. You have to be here to believe what happened next.
Credits:
Director: Polina Georgescu, Editor: Eva Szasz, Camera: Polina Georgescu, Laszlo Halsz, Original music: Shai Levy, Sound mix: Alfred Tessler, Color grading: Botond Nagy, Additional footage: Eszter Lisztes
Accolades:
WATCH DOCS IFF // 2023 Official Selection
One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival // 2023 Nominee: Right to Know competition
Berlin Indie Film Festival // 07/2022 // Best Documentary
