Directed by Márta Mészáros • 1990 • Hungary

The devastating but hopeful conclusion to Márta Mészáros’s autobiographical Diary trilogy, which traces the life story of the orphan Juli (Zsuzsa Czinkóczi) through Hungary’s tumultuous post-war history. Diary for My Father and Mother sees our heroine returning to Budapest from film school in Moscow to find a society on the brink. The failure of the 1956 Revolution and subsequent Soviet-led crackdowns have created an atmosphere of fear – but hope for a more authentic future still survives in the shadows. Blending together documentary footage and typically acute interpersonal drama, Mészáros brings the curtain down on her most ambitious filmmaking endeavour in grand style.

DIARY FOR MY FATHER AND MOTHER • NAPLÓ APÁMNAK, ANYÁMNAK
Directed by Márta Mészáros
Written by Márta Mészáros and Éva Pataki
Cinematography by Nyika Jancsó
Music by Zsolt Döme
Starring: Zsuzsa Czinkóczi, Jan Nowicki, Mari Törőcsik

In Hungarian with English subtitles