D1film

The film is an inside account of the struggle over one of Hungary’s first, and at the same time most widely read and influential online newspapers, Index.hu, during the period of escalation that ended with the resignation of its entire editorial staff—more than eighty journalists, many of them among the country’s most respected. This moral gesture, as well as a practical step, threw them all into uncertainty, but also opened new possibilities. The film raises questions about journalistic freedom and its institutional and communal foundations, both of which face a frontline stress test under authoritarian rule—the second in line being society as a whole.

When Viktor Orbán came to power, the systematic control of the media became one of his long-term priorities. It was not Orbán himself, but his closest ally, Lajos Simicska, who began building a media empire, gradually absorbing some of the most influential traditional outlets—Magyar Nemzet, Hír TV, Heti Válasz, Lánchíd Rádió and others. Critical coverage of the government quickly disappeared, while their owner prospered through state contracts and subsidies.

In 2014, information leaked that the owners of the still independent Index.hu had sold Simicska an option to purchase the outlet, something he officially denied at the time. The claim was confirmed three years later, when he attempted to exercise the option. Massive public resistance followed, and the transaction was never completed. In the meantime, Simicska fell out of favor with Orbán and, after several years of struggle, lost almost everything and withdrew from public life.

Ownership of Index was transferred to the newly established Hungarian Development Foundation (Magyar Fejlődésért Alapítvány), chaired by the newspaper’s long-time lawyer László Bodolai—“Bodi,” as colleagues called him. The move was presented as a step toward even greater independence. Doubts within the newsroom, however, led the editor-in-chief to introduce the so-called Independence Barometer—an indicator on the homepage displaying three possible states of the paper: “independent,” “under threat,” and “end of independence.” Despite growing tension between the editorial staff and the owners, the needle remained at “independent”—until one day in 2019.

Shortly beforehand, the foundation’s leadership had announced a plan for structural changes in the functioning of Index, many of which journalists perceived as unjustified and unacceptable interference in both management and editorial content. After weeks of mounting tension, the respected editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull moved the needle to “Under Threat.” Suddenly, millions of readers saw that something serious was happening—and the story quickly became international news.

The newsroom was turned upside down, and an open struggle began. At that moment, long-time member of the editorial staff and experienced war correspondent András Földes picked up a camera and began documenting everything—the editorial meetings with management, the unfolding events around the newspaper, and the broader implications of silencing one of the strongest independent voices. This is how his feature debut 80 Angry Journalists began to take shape.

Cast: Orsolya Ajpek, Janka Judit Arnótszky, Szabolcs Barakonyi, Marianna Biró, Dániel Bolcsó, Balázs Bozzay, Ági Bozsó, János Bődey, Gergely Brückner, Flóra Csatári, Balázs Cseke, Ildikó Cser, Dénes Csurgó, Ági Demeter, András Dezső, Anna Egyed, Fruzsina Előd, Tamás Fábián, János Fehér, Máté Fillér, Balázs Flachner, András Földes, Gábor Földi, Zsolt Hanula, Levente Hernádi, Ági Hollik, Hajnal Hudák, István Huszti, András Iván, Kata Janecskó, Miklós Jenei, Sándor Joób, Márton Kárpáti, Dávid Klág, Ádám Kolozsi, Tímea Kolozsvári, Gergely Koroknai, Csongor Körömi, Dávid Kovács, Zoltán Kovács, Péter Lengyel-Szabó, Gergő Lovas, Márton Marczisovszky, Mira Marjanovic, Tamás Mészáros, Gábor Miklósi, András Mizsur, Réka Molnár, Veronika Munk, Attila Károly Nagy, Roland Nagy, Tamás Német, Péter Németh, Gergely Nyilas, Tamás Pál, Balázs Pándi, Luca Pintér, Judit Presinszky, Attila Rácz, Bianka Rostás, Attila Rovó, Dávid Sajó, Dániel Simor, Péter Somogyi, Gábor Stöckert, Zoltán Szabó, Bálint Szalai, Ferenc Szalma Baksi, Tamás Szémann, Máté Szilágyi, Tamás Szilli, Gábor Tenczer, Barbara Thüringer, Gergely Tóth, Máté Világi, Ede Záborszky, András Zsuppán, László Arató, György Folk, Balázs Márton, Ágnes Szűcs, Eszter Zalán, Věra Jourová, László Bodolai, Szabolcs Dull, László Szily, Péter Uj