Hungarian Director Ildikó Enyedi Accepts FIPRESCI 100 Lifetime Achievement Award in Cairo

During the 46th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, FIPRESCI presented the FIPRESCI 100 Lifetime Achievement Award—a special award given by the federation to mark its centenary—to Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi. The ceremony took place on the evening of November 20 before the screening of her latest film, Silent Friend. The award was delivered by the FIPRESCI president Ahmed Shawky, vice president Elena Rubashevska, and artistic director of CIFF, FIPRESCI member Mohammed Tarek.

Upon received the award, Enyedi addressed film critics:

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Dear Birthday kid, dear FIPRESCI,

Dear journalists all around the globe who chose as a profession to be there at the most exciting and most vulnerable moment of our work – when, after years of sweat, doubts, conflicts and efforts, after many tough, tense, desperate, but also fulfilling, beautiful, passionate moments we let our film out of our hand and test it in front of an audience. After years of being away of the limelight, we are just exiting from the long tunnel of filmmaking when all the surrounding world seemed just a distant blur. We clean the mud from our shoes and step on the red carpet, a bit yet squinting in the strong light – and we meet you.
We meet you at this peak moment of our life, and with our heart in our throat we wait while you are sitting in the screening room. We know that a real journalist is first of all a real spectator, who knows that being in a dark cinema hall is a full body experience. Who foolishly, with the curiosity of a child but with trained and refined, finely tuned senses let the whole work through you. What you say, write in these moments is so important to us – it is like a fellow musician listening to a concert performance perceiving way more than the average concert goer.

It is an extremely hard and delicate work to keep in yourself fresh and alive this balance of professional judgement and genuine curiosity. A burned out journalist is not a journalist. Your candid interest is your elementary work tool, like the strong and healthy legs of a ballerina. You are meeting all of us at these peak moments, around the premiere of our films. At festivals you live through daily three, four, five or even more decisive moments of an author, of a team. I don’t know how to do it, but I have an immense respect for it.

Your articles orient us – I read them regularly about fellow filmmakers, they are important points of reference for me. And, of course, I read them when you write about my work. It is not so much the positive or negative sentences which count. It is the feeling to be understood or not. To feel understood is always a crazy, euphoric feeling – it means that I belong, that I have a place on the face of Earth. For a moment I am not alone. And, when it does not happen, it is a gut wrenching feeling. Many years ago, during the nineties I made a film where I made some initial mistakes then worked hard for a year to correct them, wash it out from the film. But, deep down the flaws, the scars were there. And you, the critics somehow felt it. However strange it can seem, it reassured me. I felt that we speak the same language, that you see through the surface and that we share the same world. I was truly thankful for the less enthusiastic reviews.

And then, there are our meetings, during interviews. It is an exceptional moment in everyday life that two strangers sit down face to face, look for an exceptionally long time into each other eyes and communicate intensely. Psychologists say looking in the eyes of another person even for 3 minutes can open you towards the other on an unexpected level. Promotion tours can be draining. I am a selfish person, I want to profit from these meetings, I want these days to be meaningful, I want to discover someone, I want to bring home something from these occasions. Each pair of eyes, each handshake brings me close to another human being, his or her world which meets briefly with my world. Even if I am the one who has to do most of the speaking, I am truly and sincerely curious of you. These are not interviews for me. These are unique, very special human meetings that fulfill me. Even if we meet just for a half an hour, you become part of my life.

So, imagine what a very special joy and honor it is for me to receive an award from you! To boot, this amazing, 100th anniversary honorary award! If you did not know it yet, I let you know now – the FIPRESCI award has an absolutely cherished, very special place in the heart of every single filmmaker.
Thank you for being passionately interested in our work. Thank you for being our honest allies even when pointing to our weaknesses.

Thank you for managing this nearly impossible balancing act of the robust and deep knowledge of the trade, of our art and a fresh, sincere, genuinely involved presence in the screening rooms. Thank you for existing – at least for hundred years more!

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Photos by Muhammad Hamed
FIPRESCI 2025