8 July, 18 July & 2 August, at 18:30, Cirko-Gejzír Cinema, Budapest

Eidolon Centre for Everyday Photography presents a monthly film series at Cirko-Gejzír Cinema in Budapest, featuring works that have rarely, or never, been screened in Hungary. Each film examines everyday camera use, image-making practices, and the relationships people maintain with lens-based media across the mundane, the personal, and the political.

For our next film screening in July, we have chosen a documentary by Frederick Wiseman, a filmmaker whose work, associated with both the cinéma vérité and direct cinema traditions, has produced one of the most celebrated bodies of work in American documentary filmmaking. Throughout his career, Wiseman examined the inner workings of institutions such as prisons, hospitals, welfare offices, schools, and other social structures, revealing the often subtle dynamics that shape everyday life within them.

His 1981 documentary Model shifts this gaze to the fashion industry, following male and female models as they move through television commercials, fashion shows, magazine shoots, and advertising campaigns. The film also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the operations of the Zoli Agency. For Hungarian audiences, the film carries an additional point of interest: the agency was founded in 1971 by Budapest-born designer Zoltán “Zoli” Rendessy.

The film is particularly interesting to us for two reasons. First, Wiseman's observational style and patient, unobtrusive approach offer a striking contrast to today's culture of constant visibility and endlessly streamed events. Second, Model provides a rare glimpse into the production environment of 1980s fashion photography, allowing us to observe the social, commercial, and creative contexts in which one of the decade's most influential forms of functional image-making was produced.

The film will be screened three times in English, with Hungarian subtitles. Before the screening, a short video essay will be shown, contextualising the film.

Screenings:

8 July, 2026 at 18:30
18 July, 2026 at 18:30
2 August, 2026 at 18:30

Tickets can be purchased at this link.
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Eidolon Club

Our goal is to offer fresh perspectives and networking opportunities centred around the appreciation of vernacular imagery. Eidolon Club’s monthly event series invites our Budapest-based community to explore new dimensions and challenge traditional perceptions of visual culture. 

Through curated programs, film screenings, workshops, talk events, and guided tours hosted at various venues, Eidolon Club provides a platform for enthusiasts, professionals, students, and curious individuals to come together and celebrate the most ubiquitous, ever-present, wide-ranging form of visual communication of the last two centuries.

The film screening events are realised with the support of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary.