Miklós Jancsó dies at 92

Hungarian director passes away after long illness.

by Amber Wilkinson

Hungarian director  Miklós Jancsó
Hungarian director Miklós Jancsó

Hungarian film director Miklós Jancsó has died at the age of 92 after a long illness.

Jancsó's films included My Way Home (Így jöttem, 1964), The Round-Up (Szegénylegények, 1965), The Red And The White (Csillagosok, katonák, 1967), Silence and Cry (Csend és kiáltás, 1968) The Confrontation (Fényes szelek, 1968) and Red Psalm (Még kér a nép, 1971) - for which was awarded the Best Director prize at Cannes in 1972. He was at the forefront of the revival of Hungarian cinema and was known the starkness of his themes and a distinctive visual style that influenced filmmakers as diverse as Sergio Leone and Béla Tarr.

He received lifetime achievement awards in Cannes in 1979, Venice in 1990 and Budapest in 1994.

Fellow Hungarian director István Szabó said: “Jancsó occupies a unique place in Hungarian culture. If he hadn't made such films as The Round-Up, My Way Home, The Red And The White, and others, there would have been a void. Just like Bartók in music and Attila József in poetry, Jancsó expressed the spirit of his nation and its historical destiny in cinema”

Mehelli Modi, Founder of Second Run DVD who have released many of Jancsó's films said: “A kind, gentle, brilliant and brave soul, very many of us are richer for there having been a Miklós Jancsó. It has been a privilege to know him. The end of an era.”

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