Presenters
ABOUT OUR PODCAST
Cinematic art has always been a huge passion for both of us. We started our podcast – Tekercs és Tekintet – on the summer of 2019, which has since then outgrown itself and is now available on various platforms and has reached several tens of thousands of people on Youtube. Our programme views cinematic art, among others, through the lens of religion and spirituality. The name of our programme/show itself is a play on words, as Tekercs in Magyar can mean both a film and a scripture reel, whilst Tekintet means gaze, referring not only to the viewer’s gaze, but also to a larger, heavenly gaze.
We are not contemporary or historical film critics. Instead, we always try to understand a work’s meaning and message in its entirety, so we are no strangers to discovering twists and turns: it is therefore perhaps worth tuning in to us once you have seen the film in question! We believe in the canon and are keen to participate in shaping it: we investigate/examine what is essential to be seen, with what expectations, and what we can expect to experience from watching a film. We no longer judge truly great art; rather: great art judges us. Enjoy!
Szabolcs Nagypál
Lawyer, theologian and scholar of liberal arts, head of the MCC Law School. Within the School, as the head of the Law and Society Workshop, he has three main projects: Christianity and Human Rights, Religion and Society, as well as Film and Society. At the Department of Law and Social Theory of the ELTE Faculty of Law, he teaches, among others, theory of society, state and law, as well as legal ethics. His doctoral thesis was on mediation and alternative dispute resolution. He is currently writing a book on the relationship between Christianity and human rights, with a special focus on religious freedom. As a Roman Catholic theologian, he is the author and editor of several volumes in Magyar (Hungarian) and English, mainly in the field of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, which was also the topic of his other doctoral thesis (PhD). His monography is entitled Dialogical Mirror: Methodology of Interreligious Encounters (L'Harmattan, 2013). After two years of university studies in Geneva, he worked as a researcher at the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma, taught theology in prisons, was a member of the world leadership of ecumenical organisations and is currently co-president of the Society for Interreligious Dialogue in Hungary. He has a degree in Hungarian Language and Literature, Æsthetics and Literary Theory, and has taught Religious Studies and Communication Studies at several universities and doctoral programmes. His passion is cinematic art, making the podcast “Tekercs és Tekintet” the perfect combination of his circle of interests.
László Gyula Szőnyi
He has been teaching history, literature and media in public education for more than twenty years. In the past 10 years, he and some of his colleagues at the Vörösmarty Mihály High School have founded – and now run – one of the most sought-after media classes in the country. He has developed several textbooks and smart curricula, teaches teacher-training courses, and has also worked as a journalist for several years. He is also the leader of the media teaching practice and accompanies the teaching of teacher candidates at the Károli Gáspár Reformed University. In the MCC’s University Programme, he tries to engage students in reflection and dialogue through courses on “Film and Society”. He developed several activities related to cinematic art for the different age groups attending MCC, which he is personally involved in through the Young Talent Programme and the Middle School Programme. He believes that a good teacher is first and foremost a good person. He loves people, his country, his students and himself. Furthermore, he tries to give insight into the broadest possible perspective of his fields of knowledge, teaches people to think and challenges them to brave struggles.
