The Hungarian Embassy hosted a reception
this weekend in honor of the renowned Hungarian cinematographer and
director Lajos Koltai, whose latest work "Fateless" broke
audience records in Hungary and has been nominated for the Academy Awards
in 2006.
Lajos Koltai has made his name as the
cinematographer of a number of films by top filmmakers including István
Szabó ("Mephisto," "Sunshine," "Taking
Sides"), and Giuseppe Tornatore ("Malena," "The Legend
of 1900"). He also manned
the camera in the legendary Hungarian film "Time Stands Still."
Following the reception,
"Fateless" was screened as the closing event of the 2005
Washington Jewish Film Festival.
The film is based on 2002 Nobel
Prize-winner Imre Kertész' novel about a Hungarian Jewish boy's
experiences in German concentration camps and his attempts to reconcile
himself to those experiences after the war. Kertész wrote the screenplay
for the movie himself, and in the process of adapting his novel to the
screen, he expanded it to include more of his personal memories.
Director Lajos Koltai's
"Fateless" focuses on the internal struggle for the survival of
one's soul in horrific circumstances where physical survival seems to
depend on chance. The film was shown in its original form in Hungarian and
German with English subtitles.
Ambassador and Mrs. Simonyi with Lajos Koltai and GWU
President Stephen Trachtenberg
Lajos Koltai with Anita Semjén and DCM Viktor
Szederkényi
Lajos Koltai with a poster of "Fateless"
