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 is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

), 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 Lajos Zilahy (27 March 1891 − 1 December 1974) was a Hungarian novelist and playwright. Born in Salonta, Nagyszalonta, Austria-Hungary (now Salonta, Romania), he studied law at the University of Budapest before serving in the Austro-Hungarian ...

Activity

He is best known for his 1942 film ''

People of the Mountains ''People of the Mountains'' (Hungarian: ''Emberek a havason'') is a 1942 Hungarian drama film directed by István Szőts and starring Alice Szellay, János Görbe, Péterke Ferency. The film is set in the Székely woodcutting community of Tra ...

'' which won first prize at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. Szőts became an

assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) 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 ...

in 1940, and in 1942 made his first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

''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 re ...

''.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1942) * '' Loving Hearts'' (1944) * ''

'' (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 Hungarian male screenwriters Hungarian film directors 20th-century Hungarian screenwriters Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery {{Hungary-film-director-stub