Tibor Szemző (b. 1955, Budapest) is a Hungarian composer, performer and media artist. Oriented by his diverse lines of interest towards the borderline areas of the various genres. Founder of creative performing formations (Group 180, Fodderbasis, Gordian Knot Cinematic Music Lab). Beside music compositions he creates films and installations. His works are present across Europe and beyond, winner of awards.

EITHER-OR
(Vagy-vagy - Private Hungary 3.)
Hungarian documentary, 1989, 43 min.
directed by Péter Forgács
music by Tibor Szemző

Sensual and unconscious, perhaps this is the best metaphor characterizing a "neo-Freudian-slip" film. Hungarian petite-bourgeois families find protection from the terror of communism in their private sphere and the ancient human dramas, muffled amorous dependencies, the hardly visible, but yet palpable relationships are grasped by the viewers’ eyes through coming into sight meditatively. In private life, everything goes on even if the spontaneous actors do not see what they look at. This film is exactly what it seems to be: the never before seen denouncer of invisible and sensual relationships.

A BIBÓ READER
(Bibó Breviárium - Private Hungary 3.)
Hungarian documentary, 2001, 69 min.
directed by Péter Forgács
music by Tibor Szemző
narrator: László Dobszay
music performed by The Gordian Knot

"The greatest threat to the rule of law is not the people outside it, but those uncertain and distorted situations in which it becomes bad, contradictory, and hypocritical."

István Bibó

In his work Péter Forgács presents a poetic overview of the Hungarian terrain in the twentieth century, with the use of magically composed, scratched found footage. As before, he collaborates with composer Tibor Szemző, whose mesmerizing music glides us through Hungarian and Middle European history and landscape. A Bibó Reader brings us closer to the eternal and crystal-clear conclusions of the greatest Hungarian political thinker of the 20th century. István Bibó, philosopher, and minister during the 1956 Hungarian revolution, was sentenced to life imprisonment, but later released under an amnesty. He never gave up his faith in freedom. The sensitive rendering of Bibó's social and historical analysis, the meditative texts pace this unique film vision from one chapter to the next. The fascinating images and sounds offer the viewer the unexpectedly special and profound experience.

The screening will be introduced by film- and music critic László Kolozsi. (in Hungarian)

Guest: Tibor Szemző - composer

Further information:
szemzo.org