Bálint Szimler on Lesson Learned | Meet the Filmmakers of New Directors/New Films 2025
March 26, 2025
Exploring bold new works from filmmakers around the world, the 54th New Directors/New Films, our annual festival co-presented with the Museum of Modern Art, officially kicks off on April 2. Ahead of the festival, get to know the filmmakers who speak to the present and anticipate the future of cinema.
Bálint Szimler discusses what first made him want to become a filmmaker and what screening his film Lesson Learned at ND/NF means to him.
What made you first want to be a director?
In high school, I tried everything—I wrote, directed, and acted in school plays, played in a band, created a school newspaper where I wrote articles, poems, and short stories, started a school radio, and organized events. All of these were attempts to build a stronger sense of community within the school, which was lacking at the time. However, film was always my true medium for expressing deeper ideas and emotions. It also brought together everything else I tried and was passionate about.
Was there a film or director you were inspired by or continue to be inspired by?
As I delved deeper into the world of film, Kubrick and Miloš Forman became my first two favorite directors. Both explored a wide range of film genres, with each of their movies being vastly different from one another, yet groundbreaking in its own way. I still find that courage and boldness incredible. But directors like Asghar Farhadi, Luis Buñuel, John Cassavetes, Abbas Kiarostami, Ruben Östlund, and Lukas Moodysson are also among my favorites.
In your own words, tell us about your film. What should audiences know?
Due to the political situation in Hungary, the film was made as an independent, low-budget production without any state support, serving as a protest against the corrupt film funding system. It was created with the help of 19 producers and numerous crew members who contributed their work for free, including my longtime collaborator, Emmy Award-winning Marcell Rév, the director of photography for Euphoria. The story explores the Hungarian educational system and the broader societal dynamic in which people fail to stand up for themselves against an oppressive system and choose to remain silent.
What does it mean to you to show your film at New Directors/New Films?
I lived in New York for seven years as a child until I was 9, and I’ve always felt a deep connection to the city—I’m even planning to move back now. Even more, the film reflects a part of my own story: returning to Budapest and being thrown into a completely different education system. My experience in the U.S. made me question the rigid rules of the Hungarian school system, and that outsider’s perspective—challenging norms and seeing things differently—has been a driving force in my creative work ever since. That’s why having my first feature screened at Lincoln Center is so deeply meaningful. It feels like life coming full circle in a way that’s hard to put into words—both overwhelming and incredibly personal.
What was the biggest lesson you learned during the making of your film?
That I shouldn’t leave myself time to overthink everything, I just need to do what I can do, the best way I can do it and eventually my personality and perspective on film will naturally shine through. Also, every film has its own form and identity—you set the foundation, but once you start shooting, you have to tune in and let the film guide you. Sometimes, it turns out very differently from what was originally planned, but if you listen closely, you might discover something even more powerful.
What else do you enjoy doing outside of filmmaking?
I consider myself a restless creative and an idealist. Creating something new and creative in any form inspires me. It’s like walking into an abandoned building—I immediately see the potential to create a great place that also preserves something old, allowing its story to live on. I’ve always been drawn to music, so I love to explore as much as I can at concerts or searching the internet. Since I don’t have musical talent, I started writing lyrics for a band called Laiho. I love animation films, and I tend to work with interior design and old furniture.
What’s a film you saw recently that you enjoyed?
The last film that actually blew me away was Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest.
Lessons Learned
Palkó has been transferred to a new school, and finding new friends and battling tough teachers are making his adolescent life all the more complicated. Meanwhile, Juci (Anna Mészöly) is a young teacher staring down the other end of the barrel at myopic superiors, bullying parents who can’t fathom why their child is struggling, and fellow teachers whose cruelty crosses boundaries. From these intersecting strands Bálint Szimler, in his first narrative feature, captures all the intricacy and pleasure of a campus novel—from the shame-tinged tedium of detention lessons to a dazzling school-play sequence. Photographed on deeply textured 16mm, Lesson Learned is refreshingly frank about how kids act amongst themselves, the way teachers wield power (emotional and physical) to mask their insecurities, and what happens when clueless parents are brought into the fold. It’s hard to imagine a viewer who won’t recognize much of their own schooling experience moment by moment, or find themselves moved by Szimler’s roundly empathetic worldview. Winner of a Best Performance prize and Special Mention in Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente.
Bálint Szimler’s Lesson Learned screens on April 10 & April 11. New Directors/New Films takes place April 2-April 13. Explore the lineup and get tickets.
