István Szőts (June 30, 1912 – November 6, 1998) was a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. He was born in Szentgyörgyválya (now Valea Sângeorgiului,

Călan Călan (; ; ) is a town in Hunedoara County, Romania. Twelve villages are administered by the town: Batiz (''Batiz''), Călanu Mic (''Kiskalán''), Grid, Nădăștia de Jos (''Alsónádasd''), Nădăștia de Sus (''Felsőnádasd''), Ohaba Streiul ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

), and later moved with his father to Hungary. Szőts studied fine arts at the painting school of the two masters, Aba-Novák Vilmos and Iványi-Grünwald Béla. In 1939 he worked at Hunnia, where he was assistant to director Lajos Zilahy.

Activity

He is best known for his 1942 film '' People of the Mountains'' which won first prize at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. Szőts became an

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

in 1940, and in 1942 made his first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

''People of the Mountains''. Although widely acclaimed by critics, it was disapproved of by Hungary's ruling wartime government and Szőts had trouble securing backing for his future projects.Burns p.15 It wasn't until 1947 that he was able to make his second feature film ''

Song of the Cornfields ''Song of the Cornfields'' (Hungarian: ''Ének a búzamezőkről'') is a 1947 Hungarian drama film, based on a novel by Ferenc Móra, directed by István Szőts and starring Alice Szellay, János Görbe and József Bihari. A Hungarian soldier ret ...

''.

Selected filmography

* '' People of the Mountains'' (1942) * ''

'' (1947) * '' Melyiket a kilenc közül?'' (1956)

References

Bibliography

* Burns, Bryan. ''World Cinema: Hungary''. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996. * Kindem, Gorham Anders. ''The International Movie Industry''. SIU Press, 2000.

External links

* 1912 births 1998 deaths People from Călan Male screenwriters Hungarian male writers Hungarian film directors 20th-century Hungarian screenwriters Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery {{Hungary-film-director-stub