I’ve never thought of myself solely as a film director—I’ve always been drawn to all kinds of art forms. I’m a restless creative, so I always end up getting involved in all sorts of passion projects.
Boddah is a film production company and creative hub based in Budapest, Hungary. Founded by longtime collaborators—director Bálint Szimler, cinematographer Marcell Rév, and producer Gábor Osváth—Boddah's journey began with Balaton Method, a music documentary that was the first feature-length Hungarian film to successfully complete a crowdfunding campaign, and it was funded without state support. Recently it produced Bálint’s Lesson Learned and a Canadian co-production Blue Heron.
Over the years, Boddah has worked on numerous successful projects, mainly animated shorts, collaborating with amazing animators like Réka Bucsi, Luca Tóth, and more. One of their recent highlights is 27 by Flóra Anna Buda, which won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the top prize at the Annecy International Animation Festival—just a year after Balázs Turai’s Amok took home the same award. To support these collaborations, Boddah set up an animation studio called Boddanim, which provides a home for up to 10 animators to develop their projects.
Since 2016, Boddah has expanded its scope to include stand-up comedy promotion. They have hosted major comedy events in Budapest featuring world-renowned performers such as Bill Burr, John Cleese, Louis CK, Tom Segura, Jim Jefferies, Eddie Izzard, Iliza Shlesinger, Daniel Sloss, and many others. Over the years, they have hosted more than 30 shows, attracting tens of thousands of spectators.
Bálint is the co-founder and creative director of the Budapest International Film Festival (BIFF), which annually showcases some of the most exciting international films from around the world. The festival also features a wide range of special outdoor screenings, masterclasses, events, parties and an exhibition every year. Still in its early years, BIFF has already become one of Budapest’s prime film events, and it’s rapidly growing, carving out a distinctive place on the international festival scene.
One of BIFF's major initiatives was creating Cine-Collegium Budapest, a foundation aimed at helping produce at least one Hungarian feature film per year without relying on government funding. It is supported through donations from the Hungarian film industry, international productions shooting in Hungary, arts patrons, and the public. Each year, the foundation provides a young filmmaker with the chance to make their first or second feature film, and aims to eventually become an independent alternative source of film financing in Hungary.
Bálint works closely with singer-songwriter Dorka Lajhó, also known as Laiho. He is not only the lyricist for all the songs on her debut album We Are What We Hide - which was mixed by Grammy-winning producer Marc Urselli - he also created all of her album covers with his longtime collaborator Zágon Nagy and directed most of the music videos for the band. Recently they worked together with Dorka on the music for Bálint’s feature, Lesson Learned, and her upcoming album.
The format invited everyday people to debate general societal topics dividing participants into two opposing sides. Bálint took on the role of showrunner, and also created the intro with designer Áron Filkey and the music with Péter Ajtai. The show aired for two seasons with 8 episodes, covering topics such as drugs, gay marriage, school segregation, political correctness, and more, reaching over a million viewers. It became a platform that encouraged conversation in a politically divided country.
For Carson Coma’s first Dome concert in front of 12,000 people, Bálint was asked to be director of the show, overseeing stage design, lighting concepts, additional musical and visual elements, choreography and the concert film. It was the first ever live show he directed.
Beats Per Minute is a documentary series produced by the iconic Budapest club Corvin Tető -which has closed since- aiming to introduce the music styles played at the venue while also promoting upcoming events. Bálint worked together with Zágon Nagy on this innovative series that explored different music genres, featuring commentary from artists, DJs, and musicians. The series stood out by blending documentary storytelling with a creative approach, making each episode's visual style reflect the genre it explored.
