23rd Verzió Festival 16–25/11 2026.

The Grandfather Puzzle

The Grandfather Puzzle

Poster
The Grandfather Puzzle poster
Directed by

Ora DeKornfeld

USA, Hungary, Austria | 2025 | 26 min | Hungarian, English
Full Synopsis

When Ora travels to her grandfather's childhood home in Hungary, she finds a castle on a 6,000-acre estate and a town full of strangers who greet her like she never left. "Has the baroness returned?" they ask — warm, welcoming, and faintly unsettling. Because the same town that remembers her family so fondly has its own complicated relationship with why they had to leave. But the bigger surprise isn't what Ora finds out about them. It's what she finds out about herself — and the version of a life she never knew she'd been missing.

Producer
Noémi Veronika Szakonyi
Máté Artur Vincze
Zsófia Paczolay
Screenwriter
Ora DeKornfeld
Cinematographer
Ora DeKornfeld
Editor
Ora DeKornfeld
Composer
Ádám Balázs
Production Company
Pipsqueak Productions LLC
Festivals & Awards
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2026 – Audience Award
Telluride Mountainfilm Festival 2026 – Best Documentary Short Award
Hamptons International Film Festival 2026 – Audience Award for Short Film
Available Online
11. 21. SATURDAY 14:30
Screening + Discussion
Toldi - David Lynch Hall
Subtitle: English
11. 25. WEDNESDAY 19:45
Screening + Q&A
Művész - Huszárik
Subtitle: English
Ora DeKornfeld
Director
Ora DeKornfeld

Ora DeKornfeld is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, cinematographer and editor. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, CNN, Netflix and National Geographic. She directed the Emmy-nominated short USA v Scott, premiered at Tribeca, and also co-directed Stalin Boys.