New correspondences of the MMKA-saga

Atlatszo.hu has published several documents connected to the dysfunctional processes of Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary (Magyar Mozgókép Közalapítvány, MMKA) so far. The reports have brought to light hidden manoeuvres, misuse of a huge amount of money and vast debts.

The major reason of the indebtedness was that the MMKA allocated more support to the filmmakers in excess of the annual budget. Although, the problem was pointed out by the State Audit Office of Hungary (ÁSZ) in 2006 and later by the Government Monitoring Office (KEHI) in 2011, there were no consequences. The Foundation did not pay attention to the outsourcing either. According to records, in 2005 filmmakers and companies with Foundation-loans were warned: if they do not redeem on time, they might not compete in the next year. In 2006 there was no warning sign, in other words: companies with huge loans had the possibility to apply for and to receive funds from the Foundation without any problem. In other cases, the financial resources were not spent on the filmmaking process, and there was an example of incompatibility with official duties on behalf of the secretary general of the Foundation.

However, the investigation conducted by the Government Monitoring Office in 2011 isn’t considered to be autonomous enough in the context of the current political environment. While some companies with a few million HUF-issue were thoroughly investigated, there isn’t a word about those private film production companies which received almost 1.6 billion HUF government subsidy from the Foundation during the period. These companies (Megafilm Ltd. and Hungaricom Ltd.) are connected to the producer Gábor Kálomista and his wife Zsuzsanna Kálomista. Mrs. Kálomista is currently the Director of Archives and Program Acquisition at Media Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA).

Read the full article in Hungarian here.

Translated by Atlatszo.hu’s volunteers