Red Psalm(Még kér a nép)

Moving his battlefield to the farmland, Jancsó created a socialist passion play honouring the turn-of-the-century uprising of landless peasants. Singing and dancing hand in hand, the harvesting strikers questing for basic rights are ultimately massacred by the army circumferencing them from all sides. With a mere 26 shots, Jancsó recounts the tragic history of tyranny and failed revolution in a poignantly choreographed opera. Transforming blood wound into a rosette of hope on palm, the Hungarian maestro celebrates the courage of women in myth-like fantasy, echoing Mészáros’ women of independent spirit under her poetic, realistic camera.

Cannes Film Festival: Best Director