25.04.24, 20:30, Bubble Bath (1980)

Neurotic window decorator Zsolt suddenly gets cold feet on his wedding day. To escape his responsibilities, he takes refuge in the flat of Anikó, a friend of his bride-to-be Klári. Klári, in fact, very much wants babies, but would-be artist Zsolt and aspiring doctor Anikó begin to bond over a more liberated idea of life. Triangular relationships, deep discussions and musical numbers follow one another on topics such as romance, loyalty and ambition.

While many 2D animated films are made digitally these days, Bubble Bath was born in the days when animation frames were still captured by a camera. Director and renowned painter György Kovásznai invented his own form of cinema vérité - called anima-vérité - and emphasised this intervention of the camera. From collaged photographic elements and rays of filtered light cast over the animation cells to a smear of Vaseline over the lens, these elements make the film an innovation not only in content but also in form. With a soundtrack full of wacky disco beats, Bubble Bath is a modernist-psychedelic musical that bubbles and pulses with anxieties about modernity.

Restored by the National Film Institute in Hungary.