Ferenc Rofusz on this year’s beneficiary of the Jónak lenni jó! campaign: All my respect to them.

The Kossuth Prize-winning animated film director, honored with the Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen and the title of National Artist, is supporting the public media’s charitable campaign for the sixth time by donating a key animation drawing from his Oscar-winning animated short film The Fly.

Ferenc Rofusz praised the public media’s charity initiative on the M5 channel and expressed his respect for the staff of the supported institution.

 

“I deeply admire those who came up with the Jónak lenni jó! (It’s Good to Be Good!) charitable campaign and who carry out their dedicated work year after year,” said Ferenc Rofusz during his guest appearance on the M5 cultural channel’s program Librettó. The director also honored the work of those employed in hospice care, as he personally understands the demanding nature of their job due to his brother’s experience. “All my respect goes to those doctors and nurses who perform such noble work, especially as this concerns children,” he said.

 

 

This year’s beneficiary of the public media campaign is the Baptist Charity Service, whose work the campaign supports — specifically the building of a unique new children’s hospice in Central Europe.

Ferenc Rofusz donated a key animation drawing from his Oscar-winning animated short film The Fly in support of the cause. Speaking about the framed drawing shown in the Librettó studio, he explained that approximately four thousand drawings were made during the film’s production, which together formed the world’s first so-called background animation work without visible characters. This achievement was recognized with an Oscar in 1981. He also recounted the romantic story of how some of these drawings were rediscovered.

 

“I am deeply grateful to Olga Auguszt, a member of the famous pastry dynasty. When she had to clear out their house, she found a box in the basement containing 106 original celluloid frames from The Fly. She contacted me and brought me this box. How exactly it ended up with her 43 years ago, she could not say, but it has now returned to us,” he said about these drawings, which stand as artworks in their own right. The full interview can be rewatched on the Librettó page of Médiaklikk.

 

In addition to purchasing valuable memorabilia available on the mediaklikk.hu/jonaklennijo page, anyone can support the Baptist Charity Service by calling the 1355 donation hotline and contributing 500 forints. The public media will close the campaign this year with a large-scale all-day broadcast on December 22, during which more relics will be available for auction.

 

Donations and offers for the charity campaign can be sent to jonaklennijo@mtva.hu. Updates on the campaign are available at mediaklikk.hu/jonaklennijo.

 

Cover photo: photo by MTVA