Videoton sztori

This is the first part of a series about the dismantling and privatisation of Videoton, a jumbo-sized Hungarian electronics firm. From 1989 to 1990, fifteen thousand people were laid off. Liquidation involved the firm being put up for sale at an auction attended by both Hungarian and foreign companies. The film’s main aim, however, is to portray the human tragedy of the workers who are faced with the empty workshops and idle machines, awaiting the next announcement of lay-offs. There are frequently distressing portraits of men and women suffering from the loss of the workplace atmosphere and of a sense of companionship and security, factors which played an extremely important role in their lives. How will these people, once totally oblivious to the possibility of unemployment and paralyzed by years of steady existence, react to this precarious situation? Some of them have withdrawn into themselves, while others have started up small businesses. The youngest among them can still hope to take their destiny into their own hands.