The ELTE–NFI University Film Club screening and discussion series continues. We welcome university members from all ELTE faculties.
Eternal Winter begins in December 1944, when Soviet soldiers take women of working age from a small Swabian village in southern Transdanubia away for „a little work”. They say they are taking them for malenkij robot, meaning they will have to work for three weeks. Irén, who is waiting for her husband to return from the front, says goodbye to her six-year-old daughter and her parents, believing that they will soon be reunited. They are loaded onto a train and, after a long and arduous journey, find themselves in a Soviet labor camp in the Donets Basin, where they are forced to work in inhumane conditions. The Swabians are treated as war criminals and held responsible for the atrocities committed by German soldiers. Here, Irén meets a man named Rajmund, who teaches her how to survive hell. A special relationship develops between the two. Will they ever find their way home? At what price does one survive hell? Can a love born in a labor camp be fulfilled when both of them have families waiting for them at home?
This is the first feature film to authentically portray the story of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians who were taken away for forced labor. Marina Gera won the International Emmy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Eternal Winter.
Date: 19 November 2025, 6 p.m.
Venue: University Square Campus (1053 Budapest, Egyetem tér 1-3, ground floor, A/1 practice room, corridor next to the cloakroom)
Director: Attila Szász
Screenplay: Norbert Köbli
Cinematographer: András Nagy
Editor: László Hargittai
Music: Gergely Parádi
Cast: Marina Gera, Laura Döbrösi, Franciska Farkas, Sándor Csányi, Diána Magdolna Kiss
Our guests in the post-screening discussion will be Attila Szász, Béla Balázs Award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer, and Zalán Bognár, historian, president of the International Association of Gulag and Gupvi Researchers, and researcher of the Málenkij robot (forced labour).
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZSTvEVz87I
Due to limited seating, please register in advance at: https://www.ajk.elte.hu/content/orok-tel-szasz-attila-filmje-2018.e.1957.
The organizers welcome any correspondence regarding the film club at eltenfi.filmklub@elte.hu.
ELTE–NFI Film Club Facebook page