Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.

Film journals are constantly being made and edited and end in death - Szirtes's intimate social journals are an epic, multi-layered system, a remarkable reflection of an individual and of contemporary mores.

Through a series of surreal associations, we enter an apartment where an orgy is in progress: in a dark room, slides of naked women and apartment block panel towers are projected one after the other. Someone remembers that we should have ice cream: on the scraps of ice cream, lollipops and ice cream scattered on the carpet, Laca, with skates on her feet, starts an ice cream dance. Down the street, in a VW van, two Albert Einstein figures sucking on Leo's ice cream pick up the report on the Commission orgy and drive off to the Chinese border. But they don't count on the determination of the Commission fans...

Using verite conventions, a young couple with a baby and a child are worn away by the monotony of their lives.

A talented but irresponsible violinist ruins his marriage with his drinking and antisocial behaviour.

Diplomafilm is a short film that Béla Tarr made to graduate from Art School, in 1981. It is the predecessor of The Prefab People, with the same plot and the same actors, but with some changes in the plot.

Beat-generation