You Have to Be Here to Believe
A street campaign by Hungarian activists facing the impossible odds of convincing a society manipulated by government propaganda to invalidate a homophobic referendum.
In this film, the advertising slogan with which the authorities promote the tourist values of Budapest becomes a bitter statement about the state of Hungarian democracy. Last year's elections in Hungary were accompanied by a referendum that would give Victor Orban's government a pretext to amend the constitution to limit LGBTQ+ rights. Polina Georgescu follows the organizers of a great social campaign encouraging Hungarians to cast invalid votes in the referendum. Activists crisscross the country hoping to make average citizens aware of the government efforts' absurdity. In a duel with the huge, high-budget state propaganda machine, which for years has been pumping Hungary full of nonsense about child sexualization and forced gender reassignment, are non-governmental organizations on the losing end?
2023 One World IDFF
2023 WATCH DOCS IFF