Kovacs, Zsigmond Will Receive Inaugural Legend Award From Hungarian Society of Cinematographers;
Event Will Mark Upcoming 50th Anniversary Of Their Journeys To The United States As Political Refugees In Search Of A Dream
LOS ANGELES, (October 7, 2005) - Laszlo Kovacs, ASC and Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, along with György Illés, HSC and Janos Toth are the first recipients of The Legend Award from the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers (HSC). The Legend Award was created to honor cinematographers whose lives and notable bodies of work are an inspiration to filmmakers. The awards will be presented during the fifth annual Golden Eye National Festival of Cinematography Art on October 29 in Budapest, Hungary.
Illés is a prominent Hungarian cinematographer who mentored Kovacs and Zsigmond when they were students at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the two cinematographers' perilous escape from their native land after the Russian army crushed a popular uprising against the communist regime in November 1956. Kovacs and Zsigmond had documented the revolt and its brutal suppression on 35 mm film. Just to put that into proper perspective, Russian soldiers were shooting people on the spot if they were caught on the street with cameras.
Illés advised Zsigmond and Kovacs it would be prudent for them to leave the country, because the Russians were arresting students who were accused of participating in the revolt. They carried some 10,000 feet of their film on a long and dangerous trek through open fields and subsequently across the border into Austria. Some of their film ultimately aired on CBS-TV.
In March 1957, Zsigmond and Kovacs migrated to the United States as political refugees. Despite the heavy odds against them, they persisted and ultimately succeeded.
Kovacs has compiled some 70 credits, including such classics as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The King of Marvin Gardens, Shampoo, Paper Moon, New York, New York, Ghostbusters, Mask, Radio Flyer, My Best Friend's Wedding and Miss Congeniality.
Zsigmond has earned some 70 credits. He received an Oscar® for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other nominations for The Deer Hunter, which won a BAFTA Award, and The River. Zsigmond also won an Emmy award for his telefilm Stalin and another nomination for The Mists of Avalon. His other credits include such classics as The Sugarland Express, The Ghost and the Darkness, Life As A House, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Deliverance, The Long Goodbye, The Rose, The Witches of Eastwick and Maverick. His upcoming film, The Black Dahlia, is in postproduction and slated for release in early 2006.
Both cinematographers have previously received Lifetime Achievement Awards from their peers in the American Society of Cinematographers and from the CamerImage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.
Zsigmond stayed in touch with Illés and his former classmates by writing them letters during the 1960s. When Illés was nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category during the early 1970s, Zsigmond met him at the airport in Los Angeles.
“György asked me when I was coming home to visit the school,” Zsigmond recalls. “After that, I began making regular visits and advised the students.”
When Zsigmond received an Oscar for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he thanked Illés and other mentors at the Budapest school. He subsequently helped to organize a bi-annual summer workshop for students from around the world at the school in Budapest. He and Kovacs are regular participants.
“György Illés is a great filmmaker who was like another father to me,” Kovacs says. “I once asked how we could ever repay him for his many kindnesses, and he said I should help young filmmakers whenever I had the opportunity. I have tried my best to do that. It is a tremendous honor for me to receive this award in his presence.”
The HSC is the primary organizer of the Golden Eye Festival, which is designed to recognize artistic achievements by cinematographers. There will be 17 film categories for HSC members to judge.
For more info, visit www.filmmakersbg.org or www.hscmot.hu.
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