Ferenc Pusztai
PRODUCER
Ferenc Pusztai is the producer of several renowned international feature films and series. He is a member of the
International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (EMMY), the European Film Academy, The European
Producers Club, and the ACE producers’ network. He was selected into the Producers on The Move Program of
the 60th Cannes Film Festival. In two consecutive years, in 2010 and 2011, he won the Producer of the Year
prize at the Magyar Filmszemle (Hungarian Film Week).
His films were in competition in numerous A-list film festivals, from Cannes Film Festival to Toronto IFF and to
Tokyo IFF, and won several awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize for Adrienn Pál (Official Selection at Cannes
FF) and the Special Prize of the Jury for the best Feature film for Free Fall (Official Competition in Karlovy Vary).
Pusztai always nurtured his projects from the early stages, and of his projects were invited to international
markets, co-production, and pitch forums, like Berlin Coproduction Forum, IFP No Borders (New York), Cannes,
and Sarajevo. His projects won awards in Torino and the Arte France award at Les Arcs.
In the last two decades, Pusztai attended a number of professional trainings and workshops to keep up with the
ever-changing industry. He also teaches writers, directors, and producers at several universities in the CEE
region, and at the MIDPONT Institute for four years.
In 2017, Pusztai was appointed as the Head of Drama at Paprika Studios to create the strategy of Paprika
Studios’ Drama activities and to establish the Drama Department, which now operates and produces drama
content in most of the Paprika Studio territories. During his tenure, Paprika Studios created four seasons of The
Teacher for RTL, two seasons of Tiger Daddy, also for RTL, and the A la Carte series for Sony Hungary. He also
produced three seasons of Pan Professor (The Teacher), the first season Šťastní Šťastní in Slovakia, the first
season The Teacher and two seasons of Telenovela (Melodrama) in Slovenia, and the first season of The
Teacher in Czechia, just to mention a few. As a creator and fund member, he was also behind the International Hypewriter TV Series Pitch Forum, focusing on concepts from the CEE Region. To this date, this event is the largest and most prestigious pitch forum for series in the CEE Region. In its 3rd edition, 450 applications were submitted from more than 20 countries.
In 2022, with KMH Film, Ferenc Pusztai served as Line producer for the 4th season of the Fauda series for Israeli
studio YES Studio and Netflix. Also in 2022, Pusztai line produced another Israeli series, Berlin Blues for Dori
Media. Pusztai’s latest feature film, Zenith by György Kristóf is in post-production. Pusztai and Kristóf are developing
their newest collaboration, I Will Find you, which was selected at the MIA International Co-Production Market in
Rome.
In 2023, Pusztai produced Marsra Magyar! (Huns to Mars!), financed by Deutsche Telekom. It was broadcast on
index.hu, one of the most visited Hungarian news websites. Deutsche Telekom built the whole communication
campaign on the drama series, and later the characters were featured in Telekom TVCs. Social Media posts
were also created with the characters to boost Telekom’s sales.