"There has never been such prestigious reception of the Hungarian moving image in the festival’s one and a half decades of history as this time" - said László Kálmán Ambassador, Consul General of Hungary in Los Angeles at the awards ceremony.
Prior to the official opening of the Film Festival, an international press conference and reception with wine presentation and tasting was held for the Festival’s VIP guests on the 11th of November 2015 organized by the Hungarian Consulate General.
The event was attended by Réka Szemerkényi, Hungary's Ambassador in Washington, Attila Vidnyánszky, director of the Hungarian National Theatre, László Nemes Jeles, the Son of Saul's director, the film's protagonist, Géza Röhrig, and Michael Barks, the co-chairman of Sony Pictures Classic as well.
The main prize of the 15th Los Angeles Hungarian Film Festival was awarded to the Son of Saul, while the prize for best director to Attila Vidnyánszky, director of the Hungarian National Theatre for his film "The Boy changed into a Stag".
The Hungarian presence was strengthened by some excellent Hungarian wines, too. St. Tamás Winery’s Dry by Tokaj, developed especially for the North American market, winning the “Top Imported White Wine of Canada” award in 2014 and the Winery’s worldwide probably most popular Mad Furmint were presented and offered for tasting with some Hungarian reds from Villány and Szekszárd regions.
The event was a great opportunity to introduce the "Hungarian Wines of Excellence" program, the newly launched wine promotion project, to outline and present some business cooperation opportunities to the participants, who all have spoken with high recognition about wines and are looking forward with great interest to their appearance on the US market.
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