What belongs together will grow together

Instant and Fogas Ház. Two legendary ruin bars of the Budapest nightlife. Up until now, these two venues were the largest party complexes in the city, but the recent acquisition of the Nagymező utca host-building of Instant by a hotel chain put the owners in a tough spot. Months have gone by with everybody speculating on what’s gonna happen next with downtown Budapest’s favourite enchanted forest, and now we finally have the answer: the managements of the two institutions have decided to join forces and as a result, Central Europe’s biggest indoor club will open its many doors come 14 March! The completely refurbished party palace of Akácfa utca will welcome visitors all week long with another 1200 square meters added, a number of new music projects, and sub-venues covering every popular genre of music, ranging from techno and house to rock and r’n’b.

On Body and Soul

Director Ildikó Enyedi’s first feature film since her 1999 movie Simon the Magician, titled On Body and Soul, has won a sweeping victory at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival: besides being given the prize of the FIPRESCI jury, the Ecunemical Jury and the readers’ prize of Berliner Morgenpost, the unusual love story fetched the festival’s most prestigious prize as well, the Golden Bear. “What would happen if you met someone who dreamt the same as you or, to be more precise, had been meeting you in the same world every night for years? Would you be pleased? Or would you feel that you had been in some way robbed? And what if this specific individual didn’t exactly appeal to you? What if you actually hated that person?” Catch the movie at the cinema and all these questions will be answered!

Garage Gastronomy

Even though the streets of downtown Budapest are dotted with cool-looking street food venues virtually every step of the way, somehow the outlier parts of the city had missed out on the new-wave gastro revolution. But that’s finally about to change as plans have been drawn up for a huge culinary complex to be built in the Óbuda neighbourhood of Budapest, surrounded by the modern office buildings and the hundred years old towers of the former gasworks of Graphisoft Park. The street food plaza will operate under the name “Le Garage”, seating 525 people, and will include a delicatessen, cafés, a farmers market, and five foodtrucks! Opens in summer 2018.

And the award of FUNZINE goest to…

The Heineken Budapest Nightlife Awards, awarding the Hungarian capital’s best clubs, bars, pubs and festivals, was organized for the second time this year. More than 30 thousand votes had been cast for 150 nominees in 12 categories, signalling the importance of customer feedback for the industry figures. The ceremony was held on 2 February at downtown’s Akvárium Klub, which took home the first prize last year in the best concert venue category. This year, FUNZINE sponsored the best Budapest festival category, in which Sziget Fesztivál came out on top. Divino was named the best winebar of the city, Neked Csak Dezső the best craft beer pub, Budapest Park the best open-air venue, Raktár Bár the best bar, and Pont the best small club. For the complete list of winners, check out bpna.hu!

With the newest achievement, Sziget has been awarded in every category of the distinguished accolade. This time, besides professionals and festivalgoers, artists also voted for the ever so popular Island of Freedom.

Dan Panaitescu, another significant face of the Sziget fame, who tragically passed away last summer was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, making this year’s ceremony even more memorable for the Hungarian team.

There is something sacred about the way the most celebrated people on the planet go on stage and become human. For a few brief minutes, all the actors, directors and recognized members of the movie industry stand moved, teary and ordinary as they stand in front of an applauding crowd. And even though they achieved a lot, the first thing that comes to mind to each and every one of them is to thank their loved ones for their unlimited support. The make up disappears, the lines wear off and the world pays attention to these well-known faces as mothers, fathers, wives, husbands and children are being thanked.

La La Land definitely ruled the Golden Globes and broke the record for most wins by a film, turning all its 7 nominations into shiny statuettes.

The biggest surprises of the night included Casey Affleck winning Best Actor (Drama) category – overthrowing Denzel Washington and Andrew Garfield – as well as Moonlight triumphing as the best drama of the year.

A truly touching speech was delivered by the ever so talented – also awarded – Viola Davis who had the honor to present Meryl Streep with the prestigious Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Best film supporting actor

Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Simon Helberg, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dev Patel, Lion
WINNER: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals

Best actor in a TV series (drama)

Rami Malek, Mr Robot
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Matthew Reese, The Americans
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
WINNER: Billy Bob Thornton, Goliath

Best actress in a TV series (musical/comedy)

Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Sarah Jessica Parker, Divorce
Issa Rae, Insecure
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
WINNER: Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

Best TV series (comedy)

WINNER: Atlanta
Black-ish
Mozart in the Jungle
Transparent
Veep

Best actress in a miniseries or TV movie

Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Riley Keough, The Girlfriend Experience
WINNER: Sarah Paulson, American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson
Charlotte Rampling, London Spy
Kerry Washington, Confirmation

Best miniseries or TV movie

American Crime
The Dresser
The Night Manager
The Night Of
WINNER: American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson

Best supporting actor in a series, limited series or TV film

Sterling K Brown, American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson
WINNER: Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager
John Lithgow, The Crown
Christian Slater, Mr Robot
John Travolta, American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson

Best film score

Moonlight
WINNER: La La Land
Arrival
Lion
Hidden Figures

Best original song

Can’t Stop the Feeling, Trolls
WINNER: City of Stars, La La Land
Faith, Sing
Gold, Gold
How Far I’ll Go, Moana

Best supporting actress in a motion picture (drama)

WINNER: Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Best supporting actress in a series, limited series or TV film

WINNER: Olivia Colman, The Night Manager
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Chrissy Metz, This Is Us
Mandy Moore, This Is Us
Thandie Newton, Westworld

Best actor (comedy/musical)

Colin Farrell, The Lobster
WINNER: Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Jonah Hill, War Dogs
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

Best screenplay

WINNER: La La Land
Nocturnal Animals
Moonlight
Manchester by the Sea
Hell or High Water

Best animated film

Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
Sing
WINNER: Zootopia

Best foreign language film

Divines
WINNER: Elle
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann

Best actor in miniseries or TV movie

Riz Ahmed, The Night Of
Bryan Cranston, All the Way
John Turturro, The Night Of
WINNER: Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager
Courtney B Vance, American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson

Best actress in a TV series (drama)

Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
WINNER: Claire Foy, The Crown
Keri Russell, The Americans
Winona Ryder, Stranger Things
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld

Best TV series (drama)

WINNER: The Crown
Game of Thrones
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld

Best film director

WINNER: Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

Best actor in a TV series (musical/comedy)

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Gael Garcia Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
WINNER: Donald Glover, Atlanta
Nick Nolte, Graves
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Best actress in a film (comedy/musical)

Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Lily Collins, Rules Don’t Apply
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
WINNER: Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Best film (comedy/musical)

20th Century Women
Deadpool
WINNER: La La Land
Florence Foster Jenkins
Sing Street

Best actor (drama)

WINNER: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

Best actress (drama)

Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane
WINNER: Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Best film drama

Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
WINNER: Moonlight