Heroic Times (Blu-ray)

Hungarian director József Gémes' animated portrait of the supposedly “heroic” age of medieval knights and kings, a bloody tapestry of ruthless combat. ‘A crime is a crime, even if committed by kings,’ intones the narrator of HEROIC TIMES (DALIÁS IDŐK), a sprawling and bloody tapestry of ruthless combat to rival Game of Thrones. Based on an epic narrative poem by 19th century Hungarian writer János Arany, HEROIC TIMES has a unique visual style combining gorgeous oil paintings and 2-D animation, similar to the Japanese anime Belladonna of Sadness. Winner of the feature film award at the 1985 Annecy Animated Film Festival, the long-unseen HEROIC TIMES has been newly restored by the NFI – National Film Institute-Film Archive in Hungary for its first-ever U.S. release by Deaf Crocodile. In Hungarian with English subtitles.

• Hungary
• 79 minutes
• Color
• 1.66:1
• Hungarian
• 1984

Special features

- New 4K restoration of Heroic Times by the NFI – National Film Institute-Film Archive in Hungary
- New commentary track by film historian Samm Deighan
- New essay by film historian and professor Jennifer Lynde Barker
- 3 rare animated shorts by József Gémes: Koncertissimo (1968), Parade / Díszlépés (1969), Funeral / Temetés (1970)
- New video interview with Heroic Times animator Sándor Békési
- New video interview with György Ráduly, Director of the National Film Institute-Film Archive