Bálint Bíró

Viktor Orbán was given a rare opportunity in 2010. He won a supermajority in parliament, giving him a strong mandate to put Hungary on a path to development. He also received external assistance for this. The global economy boomed in the 2010s, and Hungary received an unprecedented amount of funding from the European Union, on a scale unseen in over a century. What did Viktor Orbán do with these unprecedented opportunities? To what extent did he keep the promises he made 16 years ago? This film tells that story.

The Dynasty by the Direkt36 investigative center tells the story of the business dealings of the Prime Minister’s family over several decades. With hidden camera footage, it also shows the luxurious world built by Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz and his daughter Ráhel Orbán.

József works at the largest still-operational grain silo in Budapest. He’s been doing this work for more than 30 years, and lives in a container home next to the structure, where trucks and trains rumble past his window. When he is lowered into the ten-story-deep silos to clean them, he looks like a scuba diver at work. These scenes are captured with stunning, contrast-rich camerawork, and ably edited with a strong sound design.

A landguard and his son go on patrol in a border area, where an invisible danger looms.