Adam, Eve, and Lucifer search for the meaning of life and humanity while traveling through mankind's history and inevitable demise.

SUNDAY 4/6 - 5PM
WEDNESDAY 4/16 - 7PM
SATURDAY 4/26 - 10PM

In 1957, the Pannónia Film Studio was established, marking the beginning of the golden age of Hungarian animation. Unlike live-action films of the time, animated films faced less scrutiny from political censors, successfully penetrating the Iron Curtain and reaching prestigious Western film festivals like Cannes, and ceremonies such as the Academy Awards. Pannónia became known as one of the top animation studios in the world alongside Disney and Toei. During this period at Pannónia many of Hungary’s most prominent animators honed their craft.

One such director, and probably the most internationally recognized Hungarian animator, is Marcell Jankovics. Jankovics started working at Pannónia as a stage manager, at nineteen, in 1960, before becoming a director there in 1965. In 1973 the government commissioned the first feature-length Hungarian animated film JOHNNY CORNCOB, which Jankovics directed. In 1981 he created his most famous work, SON OF THE WHITE MARE, to international success, even though the film ran into censorship issues because of its anti-marxism interpretation of time. Both films have enjoyed a tenure at Spectacle first playing in 2016 and then in 2022.

In 1983 Jankovics finished writing his magnum opus, THE TRAGEDY OF MAN, based on the dramatic poem by Imre Madách. This epic tale chronicles the journey of Adam and Lucifer from the dawn of humanity to its ultimate demise. Jankovics began production on the film in 1988, just a year before the Iron Curtain fell in 1989. In an interview with Cartoon Brew, he noted, “There were political changes in Hungary which made me freer to express myself and communicate my ideas more clearly.” However, the fall of communism also led to the denationalization of the Hungarian film industry, resulting in the loss of state funding that Jankovics and other animators from the golden age had depended upon.

Jankovcs spent the next twenty-three years securing funding, creating one of the fifteen segments of the film, and then waiting for more funding. The film was finally finished in 2011 and is one of the longest-animated films ever made. Some notable funding was received after his Academy Award-nominated short SISYPHUS (1974) was used in a General Motors commercial for the 2008 Super Bowl. Another batch of funding was secured after Rob Allers watched a SON OF THE WHITE MARE bootleg and convinced Disney to hire Jankovics to work on what would untimely become THE EMPERORS NEW GROOVE (2000). Jancovics left pre-production after Disney rewrote the script, stating, “What I had made wasn’t used in the ruined, stupid, kitschy final version.”

Each of the fifteen segments of THE TRAGEDY OF MAN showcases a unique animation style, reflecting various moments in humanity's past and future. This animation shift enhances the film's epic scale and deepens its emotional resonance, allowing viewers to experience a broad spectrum of human experiences and philosophies. Despite its critical acclaim, and rich tapestry of artistic expression, THE TRAGEDY OF MAN has rarely screened in the United States outside its original festival run in 2011.

This April, Spectacle invites you to embark on an epic journey through mankind's past present, and future with Jankovics' twentieth-century masterpiece, THE TRAGEDY OF MAN.