Filmkultúra: Essays: Hungarian Directors Of Photography In Hollywood

Hungarian Directors Of Photography In Hollywood

György Illés
74 KByte
The international film world took notice of the legendary photography school of György Illés already in the 60's. Following his intentions in photography, his students broke the habit of old fashioned studio lighting traditions and found their own, unique world in more natural lighting techniques, plastic compositions, special camera movement. Of course, famous Hungarian directors of photography had already worked abroad - and have been ever since - only to mention the best known, Árpád Makay, János Badal, János Kende. In a selection at Örökmozgó we show works of the ones who went to Hollywood after working in Hungary. Vilmos Zsigmond and László Kovács finished their studies at the college for Performing a Film Art in the Fall of 1956, as students of György Illés. During the revolution they made several films of the fights, then they left the country with the major part of them, almost ten thousand metres of documentary material. As a film student, Zsigmond made three short films (Elszállnak a felhők, A föld, Hajnal előtt). In the US, as a laborant he made educational and short films for years. His professional precision, visual culture, speed and original camera work was recognised at the beginning of the sixties. Photographing an Altman-western (McCabe and Mrs Miller, 1971) opened his way to the greatest masters. Among others, he photographed Scarecrow (1973), The Deer Hunter (1978), The Witches Of Eastwick (1987). He received an Oscar for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977), included in our series.

László Kovács also worked as a laborant and still photographer, and made short films. He made several feature films with director Richard Rush, later with Peter Bogdanovich. He became world famous with Easy Driver (1969). The film's unique, "psychological" colour-dramaturgy has become an example since.

Lajos Koltai - also a student of György Illés - was a leading figure of both the documentarist and the "aesthetising" film trend. The virtues experimented in documentaries - virtuoso, 'peeping' hand cameras, dinamic use of closed spaces, 'one-bulb' lighting expressing beauty in dusk - he also successfully used in art films and colour technique. Among others, he photographed Agitators, Holiday In Britain, It's Rain And Shine Together, Confidence and Mephisto. The critics wanted to nominate Péter Gothár's Time Stands Still for a Best Photography Oscar, but he earned his place in Hollywood by the psychological colour dramaturgy, lyrical close ups of Vera Angi. Luis Mandoki, the Mexican director with Hungarian origins didn't even know Koltai's name, but he kept saying that he wanted to work with the photographer of Vera Angi. They made five films together, among them When A Man Loves A Woman and the psychological thriller Gaby: A True Story. Among others, Koltai has done Hollywood productions with Konchalovsky, Tornatore, Klaus Maria Brandauer. As a constant photographer of István Szabó, he photographed the Warner Bros. production Meeting Venus, shown in our series.

Another legendary photographer of the seventies, Elemér Ragályi also made a fantastic Amerian career. The virtoso of the hand camera and the yellow sprinkled lights photographed the banned masterpiece parabolistically documenting the 1968 experience, Punitive Expedition (1970), the films of Pál Sándor, The Vulture (1978) etc. He also started working in America in the mid-eighties, his greatest success, however, has been a Swiss film: with Journey of Hope(1989) Xavier Koller won an Oscar. Since then he has photographed such blockbusters as Gravy Train (1991) or Rasputin (1991).

We could follow the list with the young Zoltán Dávid, the talented photographer of Time, Just Like America etc. or with others. Dávid got married in Los Angeles and since then has worked there and in Germany (Call Me, 1987, Deadly Obsession, 1988).

Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács and George Laszlo
Vilmos Zsigmond ,
László Kovács és
George Laszlo
95 KByte

Elemér Ragályi
47 KByte

Lajos Koltai
59 KByte

György Illés 74 KByte	The international film world took notice of the legendary photography school of György Illés already in the 60's. Following his intentions in photography, his students broke the habit of old fashioned studio lighting traditions and found their own, unique world in more natural lighting techniques, plastic compositions, special camera movement. Of course, famous Hungarian directors of photography had already worked abroad - and have been ever since - only to mention the best known, Árpád Makay, János Badal, János Kende. In a selection at Örökmozgó we show works of the ones who went to Hollywood after working in Hungary. Vilmos Zsigmond and László Kovács finished their studies at the college for Performing a Film Art in the Fall of 1956, as students of György Illés. During the revolution they made several films of the fights, then they left the country with the major part of them, almost ten thousand metres of documentary material. As a film student, Zsigmond made three short films (Elszállnak a felhők, A föld, Hajnal előtt). In the US, as a laborant he made educational and short films for years. His professional precision, visual culture, speed and original camera work was recognised at the beginning of the sixties. Photographing an Altman-western (McCabe and Mrs Miller, 1971) opened his way to the greatest masters. Among others, he photographed Scarecrow (1973), The Deer Hunter (1978), The Witches Of Eastwick (1987). He received an Oscar for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977), included in our series. László Kovács also worked as a laborant and still photographer, and made short films. He made several feature films with director Richard Rush, later with Peter Bogdanovich. He became world famous with Easy Driver (1969). The film's unique, "psychological" colour-dramaturgy has become an example since. Lajos Koltai - also a student of György Illés - was a leading figure of both the documentarist and the "aesthetising" film trend. The virtues experimented in documentaries - virtuoso, 'peeping' hand cameras, dinamic use of closed spaces, 'one-bulb' lighting expressing beauty in dusk - he also successfully used in art films and colour technique. Among others, he photographed Agitators, Holiday In Britain, It's Rain And Shine Together, Confidence and Mephisto. The critics wanted to nominate Péter Gothár's Time Stands Still for a Best Photography Oscar, but he earned his place in Hollywood by the psychological colour dramaturgy, lyrical close ups of Vera Angi. Luis Mandoki, the Mexican director with Hungarian origins didn't even know Koltai's name, but he kept saying that he wanted to work with the photographer of Vera Angi. They made five films together, among them When A Man Loves A Woman and the psychological thriller Gaby: A True Story. Among others, Koltai has done Hollywood productions with Konchalovsky, Tornatore, Klaus Maria Brandauer. As a constant photographer of István Szabó, he photographed the Warner Bros. production Meeting Venus, shown in our series. Another legendary photographer of the seventies, Elemér Ragályi also made a fantastic Amerian career. The virtoso of the hand camera and the yellow sprinkled lights photographed the banned masterpiece parabolistically documenting the 1968 experience, Punitive Expedition (1970), the films of Pál Sándor, The Vulture (1978) etc. He also started working in America in the mid-eighties, his greatest success, however, has been a Swiss film: with Journey of Hope(1989) Xavier Koller won an Oscar. Since then he has photographed such blockbusters as Gravy Train (1991) or Rasputin (1991). We could follow the list with the young Zoltán Dávid, the talented photographer of Time, Just Like America etc. or with others. Dávid got married in Los Angeles and since then has worked there and in Germany (Call Me, 1987, Deadly Obsession, 1988).
Vilmos Zsigmond , László Kovács és George Laszlo 95 KByte
Elemér Ragályi 47 KByte
Lajos Koltai 59 KByte