From Neoliberalism to Illiberalism: Film Policy and the Cinematic Ecosystem in Recent Hungarian Cinema

The article explores film policy and its transformation during consecutive right-wing governments lead by Viktor Orbán. Two brief case studies of films from 2024 and 2011 help draw up the time frame of the investigation and the debates individual works triggered about film policy, the artistic, managerial, and political contexts of state supported cinema. The research aims to compare and contrast two regimes of film policy, the ethos of which was heavily influenced by government-appointed film commissioners Andy Vajna and Csaba Káel. This article argues that film policy under Vajna became increasingly market-oriented, emphasized transparency and accountability, facilitated a shift from the director-centred to the producer-centre approach, however its grant decisions remained politically neutral, well-communicated, largely fair, though catering only for marketable cinematic sensitivities. Káel-era film policy is introduced through the patriotic culture war as a strategy to hegemonize the central field of cultural power and to consolidate the patronal system of ethno-nationalist, Christian elites against liberal, cosmopolitan, and unpatriotic cultural actors. The rest of the article explores concrete policy elements, the impact of these on funding programs, the emergence of patriotic producers, and overviews the various segments of the cinematic ecosystem shaped by the illiberal turn in film policy.