On December 10, the Hungarian Parliament passed an amendment to the Act on Motion Pictures, according to which principal photography must be started within six months of receiving the decision on registration for support, otherwise the Film Office is entitled to amend or revoke the decision. Furthermore, if shooting does not commence within 12 months from the decision, the decision will be revoked without further considerations.
The new rule will also apply to procedures already in progress on January 1, 2026, meaning that the Film Office is expected to request statements from applicants who has submitted their request after the government decree has suspended the registrations on 6 June 2025.
The impact of the amendment on the film subsidy system
The amendment is reassuring in a sense that there is no intention of making any substantive changes to the conditions and amount of the incentive for the time being. The move promotes predictability by allowing the Film Office to see more accurately which film productions will actually be launched in a given year and from time to time filter out those that are uncertain and ultimately will not be realized.
Timing of submitting the film subsidy application
In view of the above change and the fact that the Film Office assesses applications on a first come first serve basis, particular attention should be paid to the timing of the submission of applications. There is still uncertainty at this point as to whether any upper cap for new registrations would be instituted also for 2026 or it was only a one-off case for 2025.
We, at Andersen, continue to closely monitor the government decree and will report on new developments as soon as they are known. Our previously published articles on this topic:
2025.08.08. – Government decree regulating new film registration process is still on hold
2025.07.21. – Film registrations are reopened, but process takes longer
2025.06.16. – Hungarian film funding rises to HUF 81 billion in 2025