“The reason it began is because I am Hungarian, so there’s a personal connection there,” said Steve Kovacs, interim chair of SF State’s cinema department.

Two years ago Kovacs and a friend of his decided to bring the contemporary Hungarian cinema here to SF State. It began as just a little festival until they later decided to create a class for the University’s cinema department that would involve these weekend festivals and offer units to students for attending.

The festivals have been and always will be open to the public. Contemporary Hungarian cinema is relatively new to the American scene, intriguing those who are interested in cinema and how it is produced around the world.

The first weekend, November 14-15 are screenings and lectures that are a part of “The Fall of The Iron Curtain” event that commemorates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

On that weekend there will be a few showings of Hungarian films but a majority of them will occur Sunday, Nov. 16 and the weekend of Nov 21-22.

The Hungarian Film Festival will occur in Coppola Theater in SF State’s Fine Arts building.