Istvan Szabo, director and screenwriter, was born on February 18th,
1938 in Budapest. His family tradition was to become a doctor. During his high
school years he joined a drama group and read Film Culture by Bela
Balazs. He decided to devote himself to film and enrolled in the Academy of
Drama and Theatre Art in Budapest. In his studies, he assisted to the famous
Hungarian, Janos Hersko, and made several well-received short films –
Variációk egy témára; Koncert; Te – in the Bela Balasz
Studio (he was one of its founders). In 1963 he graduated, and in the
following year he made his first feature film Vrijeme sanjarenja
(Álmodozások kora, 1964). Then came the acclaimed Apa (1966). In 1979 he
made the film Bizalom, which was nominated for an Oscar. The
eighties brought him his biggest career successes. His film Mephisto
(1981), starring Klaus Maria Brandauer, received an Oscar for the best
foreign film. With Brandauer and almost the same film crew he made the films
Oberst Redl (1985) and Hanussen (1988). Both of these were nominated for
an Oscar. Other well-received films from that period include Meeting
Venus (1991), Sunshine (1999) and Taking Sides (2001). He won
the state award Bela Balsz and the Lajos Kossuth award.