Hungary's National Cultural Heritage Ministry has awarded a total of 150m forints ($535,000) to six feature projects which it has deemed representative of Hungarian life.

The projects were chosen as part of a competition held to mark the end of the millennium. The first project, Peter Kukac From Nagyapat Is Going To Heaven, is already completed and has been presented to a small audience at the Hungarian Film Festival. The film, co-directed by Zoltan Bicskei and Jozsef Nagy, is based on the life of painter Peter Kukac. Production company Globe Filmproduction was awarded 25m Hungarian forints ($89,168) towards production of the film.

The other projects to receive Heritage Ministry funding are either in pre-production or development. They include:

  • Hey, The Sorrow Of Loss, a love story written by Szabolcs Hajdu which was awarded 20m forints ($71,335).
  • Pizza Man, written and to be directed by Gyorgy Balogh, about a pizza delivery man coming into contact with all stratas of Hungarian society, which was awarded 30m forints ($107,000).
  • Hungarian Trilogy, a series of three films to be directed by Gabor Dettre, Zoltan Kamondi and Tamas Toth. Dettre's project, A Journey to Venice, is an experimental love story in the Dogme mould. Kamondi's film, Honeycommand, is about the relationship between a rich Hungarian boy and a gypsy girl. Toth's Gavrilo is about terrorism. The three projects received a total 25m of forints ($89,168).
  • An unnamed project from Csaba Kael based on the ballad of a girl who danced to death. The ballad will be performed by Hungarian folk singer Marta Sebestyen who featured on the soundtrack of The English Patient. (30m forints - $107,000).
  • Grey Heron, to be directed by Szabolcs Tolnai and produced by Gyorgy Durst, which like Pizza Man aims to present a cross-section of Hungarian society. (20m forints - $71,335).