From hungary-report-owner Wed Aug 23 18:39:19 1995 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id SAA18490; Wed, 23 Aug 1995 18:39:19 -0700 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id SAA18479; Wed, 23 Aug 1995 18:39:00 -0700 Received: from bruner@ind.eunet.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-report@hungary.yak.net (18477) Received: from ind.eunet.hu (root@ind.eunet.hu [192.84.225.42]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id SAA18472 for ; Wed, 23 Aug 1995 18:38:13 -0700 Received: from [192.84.226.92] (bruner.dial.eunet.hu) by ind.eunet.hu with SMTP id AA05833 (5.67a8/SZTAKI-4.01 for ); Thu, 24 Aug 1995 03:30:45 +0200 X-Sender: pop029@ind.eunet.hu Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 03:31:33 +0100 To: hungary-report@hungary.yak.net From: bruner@ind.eunet.hu (Rick Bruner) Subject: Hungary Report 1.21 X-Charset: US X-Char-Esc: 0 Sender: owner-hungary-report@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: hungary-report@hungary.yak.net Yes, yes, we're even later than usual this week, but -- oh! -- what quality. ;) Be sure to take a look John's feature this week. It's a beaut. --Rick ======================== The Hungary Report Direct from Budapest, every week No. 1.21, August 24, 1995 ======================== The Hungary Report is supported in part by: MTI-Econews, a daily English-language financial news service. For online (fee-based) subscription information, contact (not automated -- write a nice note). ======== CONTENTS BRIEFS Tensions rise over Hungary's role with the Balkan War British tourist murdered on Margaret Island Hungaroton record company sold to local group over Polygram Bill Gates' visit seen to herald Hungary's software explosion Six-year-old boy stoned to death on train Hungarian ex-diplomat arrested on cocaine charges Misisters Kuncze and Bokros lock horns over tax plan Infamous night spot, Tilos Az A, closed OTP buys Magyar Nemzet after all South Korean car company to make jeeps in Hungary Hungary to host Grand Prix for next 6 years EBRD pledges $300 million in privatization stakes Hungarian family slightly injured in Paris bombing Kayak and Canoe team cruise away with nine gold medals Top cop surrenders NUMBERS CRUNCHED Hospital beds to disappear xYugo refugees currently in Hungary Firemen in poverty One-year consumer price rises FEATURE STORY Hungary: The Hollywood of porno ====== BRIEFS ------------ GENERAL NEWS Tensions rise over Hungary's role with the Balkan War The Hungarian Foreign Ministry, reacting to reports of recent forced evictions of ethnic Hungarians in the Vojvodina region of Serbia, sent a letter last week to Belgrade protesting "all forms of ethnic cleansing and attempts to forcefully change the historical ethnic proportions that could threaten stability in the region and that would have an adverse effect on relations between the two countries." Some 400,000 ethnic Hungarians live in Vojvodina, which is presently receiving most of the some 200,000 Serb refugees fleeing the Krajina area of Croatia. Belgrade responded badly to the letter, calling it an "open intervention" into Serbia's business and an "awakening of territorial demands," Nepszabadsag reported on Monday this week. The Foreign Ministry had received unconfirmed reports from ethnic-Hungarian organizations in Vojvodina reporting that as many as 10 ethnic-Hungarian families had been forced from their homes to resettle Serb refugees. Serbia's state news service, Tanjug, denied any Hungarians had been removed from their homes. The new agency release, quoted in Nepszabadsag, said menacingly, "[until now] Serbia had been ready to forget about the crimes of Hungarian occupants of Vojvodina in World War II, as well as the role Budapest played in arming Croatia and Slovenia" at the beginning of the present Balkan conflict. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry has acknowledged growing concern about Hungary's territorial integrity as Serb and Croat troop activity has built up in Croatia's eastern Slavonia, immediately south of Hungary's border at Mohacs. Defense Minister Gyorgy Keleti told a press conference last week the air force was anticipating violations of airspace, which would result in forced landings of Serb or Croat planes. He said military officials also feared either warring side might try to use Hungarian territory to mount an attack or retreat. Above all, Hungary's military and political objective is to avoid getting drawn into the conflict, government officials reiterated. Last Tuesday the government also complied with a UN directive and cut off a natural gas pipeline leading to Sarajevo, at the Bosnian government's request, on the assumption that rebel Bosnian Serbs are intercepting the supplies for their own purposes. British tourist murdered on Margaret Island We regret to report that last week's online appeal for a "missing person" has ended in tragedy. Christopher Strangroom, 30, of London, who was described in a brief posted around the Internet, including in the Hungary Report, as having gone missing in late July in Budapest, was identified later last week as a body that had lain anonymously in the capital's morgue since July 29. Strangroom's body was discovered shortly after his disappearance in some bushes on Margaret Island, killed by multiple stab wounds and minus any identification, reports Budapest Week (on a tip from the Hungary Report). When the British Embassy at last notified city police of the missing person, the mysteries were quickly connected, and the victim's brother flew out to identify the body last week. Allegedly, Strangroom had traveled to Budapest with his girlfriend, but they separated after an argument and she flew home without him, but British police have ruled her out as a suspect, says the Week. Police believe robbery was the motive. The case is sure to go down badly for Hungary's tourism image, following only four weeks after an elderly German couple was shot to death in the car in northern Hungary. -------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Hungaroton record company sold to local group over Polygram Polygram records has said it will sue the Hungarian government over the decision by State Privatization and Holding Company (APV Rt.) to award the former monopoly record production company Hungaroton to a consortium of local artists, despite Polygram having bid more than twice as much for the property. Privatization Minister Tamas Suchman defended the APV Rt.'s decision, saying outright the key factor was a preference for Hungarian ownership of the "national treasure." Polygram offered $5 million (HUF 640 m) against the consortium's HUF 250 million for the record presses and extensive archives. The international firm announced that the APV Rt. has until the end of the week to change its decision before Polygram launches a law suit. The consortium of local owners includes many top pop and classical recording artists, as well as ex-rock star Gabor Varszegi, now owner of the huge retail conglomerate Fotex. Bill Gates' visit seen to herald Hungary's software explosion Hungary has Bill Gates Fever as the amazingly rich computer geek's scheduled September 1 arrival grows nearer. The latest factoid is that, while unveiling Windows '95 to Hungary on his one-day visit (prior to Russia), Microsoft's boss will discuss plans to invest in an "Information Park" that would be located in Budapest's Lagymanos district, southern Buda, where the canceled Expo '96 site had been planned. Details of the park are sketchy, yet curiously Prime Minister Gyula Horn is credited with its idea and Gate's invitation. Nepszabadsag reports that Horn first mentioned the idea of Hungary becoming a high-tech haven to US Vice President Al Gore on Horn's spring US visit and that Gore, inspired, recommended the idea to Gates. Other info-tech companies would be expected to back the park, too, before Silicon Puszta could become a reality. Nepszabadsag also reports that Gates will meet with Matav officials about cooperating to bring Matav all the "superhighway" buzzwords in the paper's vocabulary, such as "interactive television, broad-band communication, multi-media, etc." ----------- SHORT TAKES A SIX-YEAR-OLD BOY WAS KILLED ON A TRAIN last week and a 17-year-old girl was similarly put in a coma after unrelated incidents of unknown assailants having thrown stones into the trains' windows. The two cases have raised awareness of a common trend around the country of rocks thrown into open train windows, apparently the perverse pastime of bored children living in apartment blocks. Police are doing what they can to step up enforcement against the crime, but the press reported several further incidents of trains being pelted since the fatality (the first of its kind). The sad conclusion: if you travel by train in Hungary, keep your window closed. HUNGARIAN DIPLOMAT PETER HARGITAY WAS ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES in Jamaica last Tuesday. Hargitay, a Swiss citizen and varyingly the former consul to Switzerland (according to Budapest Week) or to Jamaica (according to Reuters), was found with 35 pounds (16 kg) of cocaine aboard his yacht docked in Kingston harbor. Hargitay, 44, and three crew members are under arrest in the Caribbean island nation. MINISTERS OF INTERIOR GABOR KUNCZE AND FINANCE LAJOS BOKROS BUTTED HEADS over a tax scheme to finance local governments last week. Kuncze said he would use his veto power at the Thursday cabinet meeting if Bokros insisted on cutting city councils' share of personal income tax revenues from 35% to 15%. In the end, the cabinet found a compromise, whereby the local government funding structure would be reformed slowly, with 4-5% cuts from income tax revenues each year for three years. Prime Minister Horn didn't dismiss the incident before he scolded both Kuncze and Bokros for making their dispute public ahead of the cabinet's discussion. THE INFAMOUS ALTERNATIVE NIGHT SPOT, TILOS AZ A, IS CLOSED after police and customs agents raided it last week in a city-wide sweep of black-market liquor and tobacco sales. Some booze and cigarettes on sale at Tilos that night lacked proper customs seals, Budapest Week reports. The closure, however, is widely seen as a targeted attack on the club, the city's oldest and, until its doors shut, still the best late-night venue for counter-culture enthusiasts (punk, rap and world-beat music, weird local and international bands, "grunge" fashion, etc.). The "Tilos" (meaning "forbidden" -- or, in full, "The 'A' Is Forbidden" from a famous local translation of Whinnie the Pooh) has long been on the Eighth District Council's hit list. The war between the conservative local authorities (in the district most notorious itself for prostitution, high crime and other ills worse than punk music) and the bar's anti-establishment owners has raged since the club's late '80s opening. The wily owners kept it open as long as they did mostly through weird legal loopholes. Pessimists expect the battle is now over for good. OTP BOUGHT MAGYAR NEMZET AFTER ALL. Seemingly putting an end at last to the uncertain fate of Hungary's biggest politically "conservative" newspaper, the State Privatization and Holding Company (APV Rt.) accepted HUF 50 million from the National Savings Bank (OTP) to rescue the ailing publication. OTP previously offered $75 million then rescinded its bid when it lost the rights to purchase another, profitable newspaper at the same time. The Nemzet is said to lose HUF 1 million (US$ 7,700) per edition. A SOUTH KOREAN JEEP MANUFACTURER HAS SIGNED A LETTER OF INTENT to begin making the off-road vehicles in Hungary, pending the results of a feasibility study, Econews reports. Production of Ssang Yong's "Korando" model jeep could start in the first half of next year, according potential Hungarian partners in the deal. HUNGARY WILL REMAIN ON THE GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT FOR THE NEXT SIX YEARS, according to the terms of a preliminary contract the Ministry of Industry and Trade signed last week with Bernie Ecclestone, chief organizer of the international race car extravaganza. This year's event, which has traditionally lost money for Hungary's government every year since the country was added to the circuit in 1986, was nearly canceled before the government reluctantly committed HUF 150 million to finance it. Now, the government is all smiles, with organizers saying this year's race may have even made a profit. In any event, the government says, the estimated HUF 800 million in resultant tourist earnings, not to mention the race's place in Hungary's international prestige, more than make up for the state's outlay. THE EBRD HAS PROMISED TO INVEST US$ 300 MILLION IN HUNGARY in the short term, in a letter of intent submitted recently to Privatization Minister Suchman. Most of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's immediate interest is in the Hungarian Oil and Gas Company (MOL Rt.) and the Hungarian Electricity Work (MVM Rt.), as well as the Hungarian Foreign Trade Bank (MKB), the Raba truck company and the Borsodchem chemical firm. A HUNGARIAN FAMILY WAS AMONG THOSE INJURED IN THE PARIS TERRORIST BOMBING last week. Like the other 13 who were injured, none of the family of four were seriously hurt and they left their Paris hospital after one night. THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL KAYAK AND CANOEING TEAM caught a mighty current in Duisburg, Germany, taking a record nine gold medals at the world kayak and canoe championships on the weekend before last. ---------------- NUMBERS CRUNCHED * Number of hospital beds to disappear after October due to government financing cuts (Ministry of Welfare): 9,000 * Approximate number of refugees from the Balkan War currently residing in Hungary (Office for Refugees and Migration): 7,600 * Percentage of firemen who live under the poverty line (Independent Trade Union of Firemen): 80%+ * Rise in consumer prices since 12 months ago (Central Statistics Office): 30.5% ------------- EXCHANGE RATE August 18, 1995 (National Bank of Hungary) US dollar - 131.38 (buying), 133.80 (selling) Deutschemark - 88.67 (buying), 90.45 (selling) -------------- WACKY AS USUAL 'Policeman of the Year' quits Lt. Col. Kalman Illes, who was earlier this year honored as the Best Policeman of 1995 in a government ceremony, finally achieved the ultimate dream of most Hungarian peace officers and quit the force, announcing he's ready to work as a manual laborer rather than suffer the indignities of being a cop any longer. Interior Minster Gabor Kuncze appealed to Illes to change his mind, but the Nyiregyhaza police chief says his decision is final. After 21 years defending law and order, its not so much the HUF 28,000 (US$ 215) monthly salary or the frequent 24-hour shifts that got the 43-year-old anti-crime hero down, as much as his resignation to the fact that criminals are so vastly much more favored to win in today's Hungary as to make policing futile, Nepszabadsag reports. ============= FEATURE STORY Hungary, The Hollywood of porno By John Nadler and Emmanuelle Richard Copyright (c) 1995 During a recent visit to California, a Budapest resident discovered a shelf devoted entirely to Hungary in the pornography section of a San Francisco video store. The titles were forgettable and predictable, 'Sluts and Angels in Budapest', and so on. On a lark, he rented a film and watched it in shock as a team of nimble actors engaged in innovative sexual acts on moving public transportation for the duration of the number 18 tram line. To his horror, as the tram fleeted past, he caught sight of his own apartment building sandwiched between two pairs of gyrating butt cheeks. The moral of this story: Be careful what you touch on a number 18 tram. Hungary is the European capital of pornographic film making. Or, as Italian film producer and casting agent Gianfranco Romagnolli declares, Hungary "is the center of the porno world." Statistics back Romagnolli's claim. Eight to 10 pornographic movies are shot in Hungary every month -- 10% of the continent's monthly output of 100 films, according to the business magazine "Privat Profit." Budapest's community of porn actors, directors, and producers constitutes the "greatest [talent] pool of resources of its kind in Europe concentrated in a given place," reports France's HOT magazine, the "Variety" of European blue movies. Ninety percent of Europe's erotic actresses are Hungarian-born, say both French porn actor and director Christopher Clark. As a measure of proof, the industry's biggest stars -- Ciccolina, Anita Rinaldi, Erica Bella, Angelica Bella, and Simona Valli, to name only a few -- are all Hungarian women masked behind Italian stage names. (Ciccolina was born Ilona Staller; Rinaldi, Anita Skultety.) Even puritans cannot deny porn's positive impact. Erotic films are shot on MAFILM sound stages, pumping cash into the coffers of Hungary's ailing movie studio complex. Porn flics employ film crews, actors, and bring spin-off business to hotels, restaurants, and "location" owners throughout the country. Non the less, porn also harbors a viscous dark side -- child sex, the spread of AIDS, exploitation of women. For bad or for good, the question remains: Why has Euro porn chosen Budapest to be its Tinsel town? The simplest reason for the growth of erotic movie making here is that, unlike many European countries, "in Hungary there is no law [banning] pornographic movie making," says Romagnolli, co-owner of the Blue Angel, a local casting agency for porn actresses. "It is forbidden to use actors under 18 years of age," explains Istvan Kovacs, the owner of LUX video, Hungary's only local porn movie studio. "But there are no regulations banning perversities like sodomy, bestiality, etc." But this permissive legal climate is not the only catalyst. According to industry analysts, the two most important factors behind the growth of porn in Hungary are the beauty of Magyar women, and the attitude of some in this culture towards sex. That Hungary's gene pool spawns an inordinately high percentage of female beauties is lore among visitors to this country and is echoed by erotic film makers. "Budapest will stay the [pornographic] center of Europe because of its girls," says Clark. Declares Kovacs: "Hungarian girls are the most beautiful in Europe." Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, such generalizations are debatable. Safer to say that the typical Magyar 'look' -- a dark voluptuous east-west hybrid -- appears to be the industry's current "flavor of the week." According to Kovacs, Hungary has an "exotic reputation" among consumers of porn. "There is a romance about Hungary," he says. "They find us more exciting than westerners." Tastes will change, of course. But Hungary is still expected to remain an important center for Euro porn long after a new "flavor" is found. The reason: Magyars put out. "We can find in Budapest [at any one time] around 50 girls ready to star in a pornographic movie," Clark was quoted as saying in France's Hot magazine. Italian casting agent Romagnolli agrees. Clark told the Hungary Report, "In France it is hard to find girls who are 18 or 19 years old and are willing to star in such movies." Kovacs, defending national dignity, explains the phenomenon by saying Magyar culture simply boasts a more "liberal" attitude towards sex than others. "People here are more open minded," says Anita Rinaldi, 23, one of Europe's top erotic actresses and co-owner (along with boyfriend Romagnolli) of Budapest's Blue Angel casting agency. Adds Romagnolli: "The mentality [in Hungary] is very open. In Italy, we have the Catholic Church and the mind is closed. In eastern Europe, the mind is open." What Romagnolli calls open-mindeness may also be desperation. Poverty may inspiring young men and women with few options but to appear in hard-core "photo ops" in exchange for badly needed cash. But even if hard times are the catalyst, porn producers argue there is an enthusiasm for sex in this culture which makes erotic acting an acceptable career option. The same passion is palpable on screen. "What [Hungarians] do on set is real," says Kovacs. "It has a quality to it that is real... I usually work with people who really like doing this." This attitude is not new to the porn world. Legendary US porn star John Holmes, who appeared in 2,274 blue films over a 20 year career, once said of his work: "A happy gardener is one with dirty fingernails, and a happy cook is a fat cook. I never get tired of what I do because I'm a sex fiend. I'm very lusty." Hungarian porn actresses differ in attitude, despite the "passion" they exude on film. According to Anita Rinaldi, who has coupled with the continent's best endowed porn men, screen sex is not enjoyable. "I give only my body for this," says Rinaldi. "Not my soul. I imitate sex. I don't participate in it. "I've never had an on-screen partner I've particularly liked either... My partners think I enjoy [screen sex] because I act like I do. But I never have." Rinaldi's professionalism is a reflection of the pride which permeates Europe's legitimate porn community. US hard-core is dominated by plotless rubbish, she says. European movies are artistic. "People who don't know about pornographic film making think that you take two people, and they f*ck. That's it," explains Romagnolli. "That's not it. "To make the porn version of 'Hamlet' we spent 300,000 DM. These actors studied, rehearsed, and prepared. Porn is not just f*cking. We begin every project with a screenplay just like a normal film." French porn actor Christopher Clark, lauded as the Robert De Niro of erotica, has done much to bring that better side of European porn to Hungary. Clark, the 37-year-old star of sexual versions of "Hamlet" and "Citizen Kane," visited Budapest a decade ago with his then-Magyar girlfriend and immediately recognized the region's assets: low film production costs, exotic locations, "and a formidable pool of women." Clark imported west Euro erotic film auteurs, and began shooting movies. Budapest is now his home. Sadly, Hungary is also the home to porn's ugly underbelly. In 1993 Magyar police arrested 23 people involved in a child pornography ring. Two Dutch nationals are still in detention for shooting sex films involving three and four-year-old children. According to Jozsef Csaba, head of the Youth Protection Department of the Budapest police, Austrian, German, and Dutch pornographers still threaten Magyar youths. "They find boys from the countryside," says Csaba. "Orphans, Gypsies, the disadvantaged. They come with cheap materials and make primitive films they can sell for 1,000 to 10,000 Schillings." Even adults appearing in legitimate features are at risk. According to French photographer Denys de Francescho, young Hungarian women hired by Budapest casting agencies for shoots in western Europe are often over worked, abused, and exploited. de Francescho claims a Magyar actress named 'Monika' was paralyzed for eight months after one violent shoot. Monika's last name was not given to the Hungary Report to verify this charge, and actor Clark says allegations of widespread exploitation within the industry's upper echelon are unfounded. But there is no denying it: porn performers are fodder. A hit like "Deep Throat" can make millions for its producers. Actors and actresses, paid by the day, see none of the profits. The standard pay rate for a Hungarian: 800 DM a day for a supporting role; 1500 DM for a main character. A major feature takes about ten days to shoot. A short movie can be filmed in a day or two. There are other dangers. The most deadly is HIV infection, and the 1988 AIDS death of John Holmes proves that even porn icons are not immune. (According to Rolling Stone magazine, Holmes appeared with Hungary's Ciccolina in "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress" after being diagnosed HIV positive.) French actor Clark admits that the specter of AIDS terrifies him. But many Hungarians downplay the threat. "Of course, I'm worried," says Rinaldi. "But all actors must have no more than a three-week-old HIV test before a shoot, otherwise they can't work. And the people who do this on a professional level have stable private lives. So it's not too dangerous." Others disagree. According to Clark, some Hungarian porn performers-- newcomers to the trade -- are recklessly promiscuous in their private lives. "Some actresses will have sex with [several] boys at a disco, and then the next day will show up on set to work," says Clark. This lack of AIDS awareness may be another reason why some young people here are open to erotica. Women are at greatest risk mainly because the industry prefers Hungarian actresses. "Hungary has no male porn stars," says producer Kovacs. Why are Magyar men in less demand? Male skills in the mainstream porn trade are narrow and rare. A beautiful actress with charisma and complete sexual openness has a shot at stardom. Men are different. John Holmes, homely, skinny, and bereft of acting skill, founded a stellar career in the US on one item: a penis ten inches long when erect. Actors must also possess Herculean self-control -- stamina that Clark metaphorically calls professionalism. "I work very professionally," he says. "I concentrate and I do it... I can act for hours and hours without being tired." The dark and legitimate worlds or European pornography co-exist in Hungary. But not in isolation. According to Clark, low-budget videos-- often of child porn and bestiality -- is overwhelming the mainstream industry. "European porn is in crisis," laments Clark. "The amateurs are stealing the market." Rising prices are also driving legitimate producers away from Hungary who are gazing further east where costs are lower. But, whether a blessing or a curse, the mafia in the former USSR is keeping business rooted here. Even if producers stop shooting in Hungary completely, it will matter little to local performers. According to casting agencies, European producers will always come here for talent -- searching for that Magyar "passion" which plays so well on screen. And whether inspired by financial desperation or a subculture of sexual freedom, a small number of Hungarians will strive to become members of -- what France's HOT magazine calls -- "a new race of actresses ... born in Budapest." -Krisztina Marton assisted in the research of this article. =================== NO PARLIAMENT WATCH Tibor Vidos has the audacity still to be on vacation. His column will resume in early September. =========== FINAL BLURB The Hungary Report is free to readers. 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