István Gaál (born in 1933) was one of the founders of the legendary Studio Béla Balázs. He made Current / Sodrásban, his first full length feature film in 1963. It became one of the symbols of the “Hungarian nouvelle vague” and won the main prize at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 1964. He directed a great number of feature, documentary, short and television films.
His documentary Chronicle / Krónika won the Jury’s Special Prize in Venice in 1968. Two years later his feature film The Falcons / Magasiskola was awarded the Jury’s Prize in Cannes, then it received the Silver Hugo at the Chicago film festival. His most well known feature films are Green Years / Zöldár, Baptism / Keresztelő, Dead Landscape / Holt vidék and Legato.
He made his last feature film Orpheus and Eurydice / Orpheusz és Eurydiké in 1985 based on Gluck’s opera. His attachment to classical music was well known. Roots / Gyökerek , his three part portrait of Béla Bartók commemorated the world famous Hungarian composer… read more
István Gaál (born in 1933) was one of the founders of the legendary Studio Béla Balázs. He made Current / Sodrásban, his first full length feature film in 1963. It became one of the symbols of the “Hungarian nouvelle vague” and won the main prize at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 1964. He directed a great number of feature, documentary, short and television films.
His documentary Chronicle / Krónika won the Jury’s Special Prize in Venice in 1968. Two years later his feature film The Falcons / Magasiskola was awarded the Jury’s Prize in Cannes, then it received the Silver Hugo at the Chicago film festival. His most well known feature films are Green Years / Zöldár, Baptism / Keresztelő, Dead Landscape / Holt vidék and Legato.
He made his last feature film Orpheus and Eurydice / Orpheusz és Eurydiké in 1985 based on Gluck’s opera. His attachment to classical music was well known. Roots / Gyökerek , his three part portrait of Béla Bartók commemorated the world famous Hungarian composer. In the last period of his life, with a video camera in his hand he made essays about cities and regions. His sensitive, exact and gripping photos were displayed at several exhibitions.
In 1999 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Hungarian Film Week and in 2000 he won the title Master of the Hungarian Motion Picture. Hungarian film director István Gaál died on 25 September 2007 after a long and serious illness. —filmunio.hu
