Mónika Balsai

Vampires are among us! But no need to worry: the Hungarian Secret Police are after them, and beyond the usual spy gadgets, they even use garlic to repel the beasts.

Would you believe in a policewoman who suffers from such serious panic disorders that she is afraid to get close to any crime scene and has been on permanent office duty for more than a decade? Would you believe a lone mother who is unfit to pay her mortgage and also raise her rebellious teenage daughter? Indeed, no one believes that the troubled ex-detective has discovered a serial murder case. Personal dramas and a murder mystery unfold in present-day Budapest, where demonstrations are part of the pre-election life of a city still trying to cope with the shadows of its historical and recent past. It is a city where nothing seems honest and true, except through the eyes of an emotionally unstable policewoman and her misfit daughter who wants to know who her father truly was.

Set in Budapest in 1913, when the city was considered to be at the heart of Europe. 20-year-old Irisz Leiter, arrives in the Hungarian capital after spending her younger years in an orphanage, hoping to work as a milliner in the legendary hat store that belonged to her late parents. She is suddenly confronted with her past and starts searching for answers about her family before stumbling upon dark secrets.

A young refugee, Aryan, is shot while illegally trying to cross the Hungarian border. While tending him back to health, a doctor at a refugee camp discovers that Aryan has gained an extraordinary talent—he can levitate. Aryan is smuggled out by the doctor, who is intent on exploiting his secret.

The new owner of a brilliant race horse finds love while carrying out his revenge on the man who murdered his father.

A psychotic killer is on the prowl, who continues to slaughter young women while an innocent man is wrongly accused and sentenced for crimes he could never have committed. A determined detective arrives on the scene and soon becomes obsessed with the case while under pressure from the prosecutor to see a man hang.

Two physically handicapped youngsters make friends with a paralysed hitman and are commissioned by a local mafia boss. They have little to lose although things are never as they first appear. The boundaries between fantasy and reality blur as the unlikely heroes stumble from one close encounter to the next and we gain an unusual insight into their lives on the periphery of society.

Liza is a naïve, lonely 30-year-old nurse who wants to fall in love. Her only company is a long-dead Japanese pop star, who turns her into a fox-fairy out of jealousy. Now, every man who desires Liza shall die horribly. Can she overcome the curse?

A fictional account of the 1958 attack against the Hungarian embassy in Bern. Based on a true story about the aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

A fictional account of the 1958 attack against the Hungarian embassy in Bern. Based on a true story about the aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

The final years of Sándor Márai's voluntary exile in San Diego, which led to his suicide in 1989. Based on his own diary.