The Current Discussion: The Academy Awards are coming, and an Indian movie, "Slumdog Millionaire," could win best picture. But what are we overlooking? What's the best non-Hollywood movie you saw this year?

Ladies and gentlemen. I am probably not the only East European intellectual who distrusts all Hollywood products, even those with (at least some) talent and ambition. Sorry -- Scorsese, Altman, Spielberg, Lucas, Mendes, Stone and others that fall into this category. I am all for the small budget Romanian-, Bulgarian- and Latvian-type films. Last but not least, I am especially all for the Hungarian movies. There was a time when Hollywood was over-flooded by Hungarian filmmakers, from Adolph Zukor to Béla Lugosi. You can thank us even for "Casablanca." But unfortunately, Americans haven't been spoiling the Hungarian film industry lately. The only Oscar for a real Hungarian film went to "Mephisto," directed by István Szabó -- and even back in 1982, Americans didn't care with the accents in his name and few ever learned its correct pronunciation (Saabow).

There is a new film by a young Hungarian director Áron Mátyássy (Maati-aash-y), entitled "Utolsó idők" (Last Times). It is absolutely smashing. It is too new to compete in this year's Oscars, and I bet it won't be nominated next year's either. Well, what can I say? When it is released on DVD, search the stores for it. The Academy's system is over-Americanized and overrated. This is simply the official opinion of the Un-Hollywood Activity House Committee. The house in question is mine, and the members of the committee so far are three friends of mine. Anyone who proves that he/she has seen five East European films lately can join us. Feel free to contact the committee through me.