Returning for its 21st edition, the Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival promises a dynamic lineup that peels back the layers of mainstream narratives to reveal hard-hitting truths. Running from November 6-13 in Budapest, this year’s program showcases 60 films across four competition categories and eight thematic sections, with a special focus on the themes of #decolonisation and #disinformation. The festival offers both award-winning documentaries and hidden gems, with selections from #Armenia, #Ukraine, and the #UK. With its slogan «Reality Uncovered,» Verzió invites viewers to engage deeply with stories that challenge the status quo. Ahead of its 2024 edition, Modern Times Review speaks with Festival Director Enikő Gyureskó who shares insights into the curation process and this year’s diverse and provocative lineup.

We see music documentary festivals, human rights-focused festivals, ecological festivals, and open-format festivals—there’s a wide variety out there. Where would you say Verzio fits within this broader landscape of European film festivals?

Enikő Gyuresko: Verzio is a member of the Human Rights Film Network and human rights topics are central to our identity, as indicated by our name. This has been a strong part of our focus since the beginning. We exist somewhere between an activist NGO and a cultural actor. We collaborate extensively with civil and human rights organisations while maintaining strong connections to the documentary industry, primarily within Europe.

Verzio’s dual focus is what distinguishes it. On the one hand, we aim to select fresh, creative documentaries, and on the other, we work hard to build a community around these films, creating a platform for discussion. We host numerous discussions every year with filmmakers, guests, and decision-makers. We also have juries and present awards in four competition sections this year. These include the International Competition, the Emerging Talent Competition—which we rebranded last year as the Doc Future Competition—and the Hungarian Competition.

This year, we’ve added a queer focus program titled «We Are Here», featuring six international documentaries on LGBTQ+ topics. Alongside the film screenings, we’ve organised roundtables with experts—a human rights lawyer, an influencer, and a creative agent—who can discuss the issues raised in these films in more depth.

Verzio’s dual focus is what distinguishes it.

How do you see the festival creating space for networking and social engagement?

Enikő Gyureskó: Social events and networking are essential components of the festival. We make sure to organise events where guests can meet one another. A major goal for us is to allow Hungarian documentary filmmakers to build networks with our international guests. This is quite unique in Hungary—other countries, like Poland or the Czech Republic, have stronger infrastructures for this kind of exchange. Verzio is trying to fill that gap here.

Do you mean there needs to be a stronger connection between Hungarian filmmakers and the international industry, as there might be in Poland or the Czech Republic?

Enikő Gyureskó: Yes, exactly. We’re actively working on this area in partnership with MADOKE, the Hungarian Documentary Association.

A major goal for us is to allow Hungarian documentary filmmakers to build networks with our international guests.

How does the festival fit into the Hungarian cultural scene?

Enikő Gyureskó: We try to bring in a lot of films from the region, particularly Eastern and Central Europe. We also partner with festivals in the Visegrad countries, like #Watch Docs# in Warsaw, One World Slovakia, and One World Prague—these are our strongest and longest-standing partners. In recent years, we’ve also started building relationships with festivals in the Balkans. These collaborations are key for us.

One thing we’ve been missing, though, is a stronger connection to Western Europe. We’re addressing that by working with festivals like #FIPADOC, #DocsBarcelona, and #DOK.fest Munich# in the Doc Around Europe network. We also have a new member joining from Italy, #Biografilm. With these festivals, we can exchange new talent and films in our competition programme. We all organise mentoring programmes for our region’s emerging talents. For example, we run the Verzió DocLab, which focuses on editing and supports films in development. This year, we selected six projects to participate in the program. The workshop lasts five days and features three fantastic mentors. It’s an intensive experience that ends with a Pitch Fourm and awards from HBO Europe, On the Spot, and Focus Fox Studio, among others.

Additionally, we host a Young Critics Workshop, which encourages emerging voices in film criticism.

I want to ask you about the Young Critics Workshop. I was browsing your website earlier and came across the blog section, where I noticed some film reviews. The approach taken in those reviews reminded me a lot of what we do at Modern Times Review. Instead of traditional film criticism, the reviews take a more essayistic and analytical approach. Is this style carried over into the Young Critics Workshop?

Enikő Gyureskó: Yes, most of the reviews on the blog come from our UniVerzió program, although only a few are from the Young Critics Workshop. That’s something we’d like to improve—we want more of the finished works from the workshop participants to be published.

The UniVerzió program, however, is a collaboration with ELTE University and involves two professors. One teaches a course in the Media Department for BA students, and the other teaches in the MA program in the Film Department. The BA students tend to write shorter reviews or recommendations. The MA students go into more depth, offering in-depth analysis in their reviews.

Social events and networking are essential components of the festival.

Is that something you’d like to see more of in the Critics Academy, specifically at the festival—this more analytical approach?

Enikő Gyureskó: Yes, definitely, although I’m not directly coordinating that program—Fanni is in charge. But to add a bit more context, we started the workshop in the first place because there are very few platforms in Hungary that write about creative documentaries, especially documentaries. Even when reviews of documentaries are written, they often lack depth or focus. We wanted to create a community of journalists who could cover documentaries with more of a social sensibility.

This year, we’re organising a workshop specifically for journalists. Over the past few years, we’ve noticed that some journalists write about documentary subjects as if they were fictional characters, not recognising that these are real people. These subjects share their personal stories, often putting themselves in vulnerable positions, and harsh criticism can affect them deeply. We want to cultivate a more empathetic approach among journalists when writing about documentaries.

Going back to the festival program, I’m curious about local representation. You have the Hungarian Competition, for example. What themes or interests have you noticed from the local filmmakers this year?

Enikő Gyureskó: The films are quite diverse. I couldn’t say that two of them share the same focus, but many touch on important social issues. For example, Beyond Rock Bottom, Your Life Without Me, and Crips—these films tackle issues that are significant for Hungarians because they highlight societal problems that require more attention, both from society and from the state.

For example, Your Life Without Me follows the struggles of mothers who care for their disabled children, who are now adults and need constant care. These mothers are taking legal action against the state, demanding small-scale care homes where their children can live a dignified life when their mothers are gone. Crips, on the other hand, is about a group of men in wheelchairs who travel to Lake Balaton, and it highlights the many infrastructural challenges they face along the way. Hungary still lacks accessible facilities for people with disabilities—whether it’s public transport, entering shops, or even accessing the lake itself.

Beyond Rock Bottom addresses another crucial issue: addiction. It focuses on people struggling with drug addiction, and they receive support from an NGO that offers mentorship and regular meetings. Addiction and the lack of support for those who struggle with it are not talked about enough at a state level. Instead, these individuals are often stigmatised and treated as undeserving members of society. This film challenges that narrative.

these films tackle issues that are significant for Hungarians because they highlight societal problems that require more attention, both from society and from the state.

Given the conservative nature of the Hungarian government, I imagine there might be some tension with a festival like Verzio, which focuses on human rights. Do you have any relationship with the government or local authorities?

Enikő Gyuresk: We have a partnership with the Municipality of Budapest, but we don’t apply for support to state institutions since we find it questionable how they distribute grants. When an application for support is submitted to the National Film Institute – be it a film production or any film-related initiative, like a film club network operating in Hungary – receives a negative answer, there is no communication about the reasons behind that decision. We often have the impression that decisions are based on political agendas instead of professional grounds. We protest this lack of transparency by not applying for their support in the first place, and we hope that a long-awaited transformation will eventually take place in this important institution for the sake of the future of the Hungarian film industry.

We run the festival mainly thanks to the Creative Europe Media grant and support from various cultural institutes and embassies. Whenever we screen a film from a certain country, we reach out to its cultural institutes for support—like the Cervantes Institute for Spanish films. It’s a struggle to operate this way, and people often wonder how we manage to pull it off. The truth is that we have to work year-round to find partners and secure funding. Our festival is definitely not a red-carpet festival. We continue to remain as accessible to our audiences as possible by keeping our ticket prices lower than regular cinema tickets.

What criteria or themes do you look for in international films that appear in the programme?

Enikő Gyureskó: We try to ensure geographic diversity for the international competition, with each film covering a unique theme. This year, we have 11 films, including 1489 from Armenia and A Bit of a Stranger from Ukraine. There’s also Daughter of Genghis from Mongolia and Black Box Diaries from Japan. We focus on urgent issues that resonate with Hungarian audiences, even if the stories seem far removed.

For example, Sugarcane, in the «Stories in Reverse» thematic section, deals with the uncovering of forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at segregated boarding schools in Canada that were designed to destroy Indigenous communities. This story might seem distant at first, but similar scandals that included the cover-up of sexual abuse in a children’s home in Hungary resulted in President Katalin Novák’s resignation just the beginning of this year. So, no matter where they take place, these films have relevance here because of their universal human themes.

We try to ensure geographic diversity for the international competition, with each film covering a unique theme.

The last thing I’d like to ask about is the country focus. I see you have two «In Focus» programs, one for Ukraine and one for Armenia, and a spotlight on British documentary films. What goes into the decision-making process when selecting which countries to focus on each year? And what’s the difference between the «In Focus» and «Spotlight» programs?

Enikő Gyureskó: We decided to focus on British documentaries with the British Council and the British Embassy here in Hungary; their idea was to organise British Film Days in Hungary. You should know that in Budapest, we have a film festival every week—almost every country has its own film days, though they aren’t always full-scale festivals. Given the sheer volume of festivals, it’s sometimes difficult to attract an audience because of all the competition.

A lot is happening all the time…

Enikő Gyureskó: Yes, exactly. It can be challenging to spark enough interest with so many options available. That’s why we suggested that we do it jointly with Verzio and have a British focus on the festival. British documentary production is quite strong, so we knew we could find fresh, relevant films to include in our program. We selected four feature films for our cinema program and three virtual reality films for our «Vektor VR» exhibition.

Interestingly, many of these films are global stories—they don’t all take place in the UK. For example, one of the films is set in Ethiopia and tells the story of a Chinese factory operating there. Another film, Black Box Diaries, is about the #MeToo movement in Japan, but it’s a British production. We’re pleased with the selection.

The other reason for this focus is that, since Brexit, British cultural products have become less visible in Hungary. In the 2000s, it felt like everyone wanted to go to London—there was a strong connection between Hungary and the UK. But now, with reduced funding, we don’t see British films or artists here as much as we used to. So, we wanted to give British documentaries space to reconnect with the audience.

Is having two countries of focus typical, or is this a special case?

Enikő Gyureskó: It varies from year to year, but this year, we didn’t specifically plan to have a Ukrainian focus. We’ve had a focus on Ukraine for many years, including last year, but we just found so many incredible Ukrainian films this year that there was simply no way not to invite them. Even then, we had to limit how many we included in the program. The films address what’s happening with the war and how Ukrainian society is coping with this immense trauma.

We’re strongly committed to raising awareness about what’s happening in Ukraine because, unfortunately, in Hungary, there is a significant amount of Russian propaganda in the media. It’s sad to see how many people in our society fall for these fake narratives. We want to allow our audience to engage with real stories and real people, not just the distorted version pushed by certain media platforms. Even people who might have preconceptions going into these films often find themselves deeply moved by the personal stories and can’t deny the reality of what’s happening.

It’s sad to see how many people in our society fall for these fake narratives.

What about Armenia?

Enikő Gyureskó: Armenia is another case where we felt the need to draw attention to something not getting enough coverage. There’s very little international news about what’s happening there, and you don’t see many Armenian films at international festivals either. The situation in Armenia is a tragedy— hundreds of people died in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and it needs to be talked about. There’s a sensitivity around it, of course. Twenty years ago, a huge diplomatic conflict broke out between Hungary and Armenia when an Azerbaijani Lieutenant brutally murdered an Armenian lieutenant in Budapest – while they were attending an English language course as part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. Hungary extradited the murderer to Azerbaijan, where he was celebrated as a hero and received an immediate pardon for his crimes… So, there’s some local relevance here as well, though many Hungarians don’t know much about what’s happening in Armenia today.