Salgótarján

Salgótarján Filming locations

Salgótarján is a unique Hungarian city encapsulated in the grey architecture of the Soviet Era. Towering housing blocks, eroding cement constructions, Soviet public art and geometric monumental institutions all await production teams searching for locations that can double as any Communist Bloc country, Russia or even North Korea. In the 1950s and 1960s, the city experienced an industrial boom, resulting in vast and daring brutalist building projects, but after the political change, the economy declined, leading to a long-lasting financial crisis and austerity. This is why you can find vast areas constructed in the most modern communist architectural styles, which are by now underdeveloped or disused without any contemporary interventions. Therefore, many parts of the city provide countless possibilities for wide-angle footage to be shot with fewer restrictions for period pieces without the usual constrictions of urban spaces mixed with a range of architectural styles. With a lack of bustling city life, there are numerous buildings, streets and squares that can be easily closed for film or photo shoots, since they have not been busy for decades. Salgótarján is easily accessible from Budapest, with a new motorway enabling the journey there to take only an hour and a half from the Hungarian capital.