About this Event
This screening is a part of The Philly Cinematheque, a new initiative housed in the Annenberg School for Communication. It brings a community-focused approach to an eclectic program of global film and television screenings. In doing so, it functions as both an informal gathering place and an intentional intervention to further embed cinema—as a modality, a space, and a method—in communications scholarship.
This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, the Department of Russian and East European Studies, and the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
About the Film
In 2020, the entire editorial staff of Index.hu — Hungary’s leading independent news outlet — resigned en masse after what they considered the final breach of editorial independence. War correspondent András Földes turned his camera toward his own newsroom and began documenting the collapse from within. Over five years, he followed the journalists’ struggle for professional autonomy and collective survival, capturing a story that unfolds with the tension of a political thriller and the intimacy of personal documentary.
80 Angry Journalists portrays a decisive chapter in Hungary’s democratic backsliding through the internal revolution of one newsroom. Few films have documented from such proximity how political power enters and reshapes independent institutions. The mass resignation became one of the most significant media scandals of the year in Hungary, drawing international attention. As Vera Jourová — then Vice-President of the European Commission — reflects in the film, the example of the resigning journalists contributed to the development of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which entered into force in 2025.
Through unprecedented access, the film documents the founding of Telex.hu — a new, reader-funded news platform built from scratch. Alongside external political pressure, the journalists face unexpected internal tensions and exhaustion. Persistence, however, ultimately yields renewal.
How can a professional community withstand autocratic pressure? This film seeks to answer that question.
About the Discussant
András Földes is an award-winning Hungarian filmmaker and journalist specializing in conflict zone reporting and humanitarian issues. With over 20 years of experience reporting from Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Sahel, Földes brings a raw, authentic perspective to his documentary work. His feature-length documentary, 80 Angry Journalists (2026), chronicles Hungary’s independent journalists rising up against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s takeover of Index.hu—a fearless revolt for press freedom that resonated across Europe and helped shape the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), strengthening protections for journalists continent-wide.
About the Moderator
Eszter Zimanyi is Research Director at the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of Southern California and specializes in documentary studies, migration and refugee studies, and global media cultures. Her work on these topics appears in Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (JCMS), Feminist Media Studies, and Transnational Cinemas, among others.
Event venue & nearby stays
Annenberg School for Communication, Room 109, 3620 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, United States
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