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János Xantus was a leading figure in the support and encouragement of the radical counterculture of the Hungarian underground in the 1980s. In his films, he combined pop, new wave, fine arts and performances in suspenseful cinema, which aestheticizes both the political and the private. Xantus explored secret languages and codes as instruments of resistance and depicted the rupture of euphoric liberation and societal decline in the transition from socialism to a market economy.
His works are characterized by a “new sensitivity” that was directed against academic art and the conceptual avant-garde. Thematically, Xantus – who was always an actor-director and frequently worked with women – dealt with guilt, transformation, religion, and performative forms of expression.
As with the rituals and milieus that he explored in his work, Xantus was marginalized after the change of regime. His films, however, remain important testimonies to a forgotten subculture and a specific moment in society. They are among the most significant works of Hungarian cinema from that period.
