Director and screenwriter, studied Law in Pecs, graduating in 1944 in Romanian town of Cluj. He took art history and ethnography classes, which he continued studying in Transylvania. He did military service and took part in World War II, briefly as a prisoner of war. After the war ended, he enrolled in Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest, graduating in film directing in 1951. He got a job with television news studio, where from 1950 he directed many propaganda chronicles and journals on the development of socialism, and dozens of educational and cultural films. He had his directorial debut in 1958 with feature-length film The Bells have gone to Rome (A Harangok Rómába mentek). After that he made short documentaries for a while, working with his wife at the time, director Márta Mészáros. For his short film Immortality (Halhatatlanság) he won an award at San Francisco Festival in 1960. With two other directors he made a feature-length Three Stars (Három csillag) that same year, and he independently directed Cantata (Oldás és kötés, 1963). With this drama that discusses the relationship between the rural and the urban he draws attention to his work and started long-term screenwriting collaboration with Gyula Hernádi. After war drama My Way Home (Így jöttem, 1965) his film The Round-up (Szegénylegények, 1965) brings him huge success at home and internationally, which premiered in Cannes in 1996, placing him on the international stage. Even greater success comes with his anti-hero war film Stars on their Caps (Csillagosok, katonák, 1967) very well received with the international audience and critics, becoming one of his best known films. During his career, he often collaborated with director of photography János Kende, and their first project was Silence and Cry (Csend és kiáltás, 1967). He made his first film in colour The Confrontation (Fényes szelek) in 1968, using song and dance for the first time. In his later films he developed his own style which he named political musical, consisting of political analyses (he often used historical topics to address contemporary problems), complex camera movement, long-take shots, song and dance, and often rural setting. Historical drama Winter Wind (Sirokkó, 1969) he directed in only 12 shots. Another great success was achieved by drama Red Psalm (Még kér a nép, 1971) bringing him Best Director Award in Cannes. During the seventies he made a number of films in Italy or in collaboration with Italian producers. Some of those films are Private Vices, Public Pleasures (Vizi privati, pubbliche virtů, 1975). In Hungarian production he made Electra, my Love (Szerelmem, Elektra, 1974) and two parts of a trilogy, never completed due to bad reception with the critics, Hungarian Rhapsody (Magyar rapszódia, 1979) and Allegro barbaro (1979). In the eighties his films were not popular with the critics, although his work from the time is being reviewed today. With the film The Tyrant's Heart (A Zsarnok szíve, avagy Boccaccio Magyarországon, 1981) he slowly steps away from historical environments. He makes documentaries and works for television. The following feature film Dawn (L'aube) was made in 1985. In his drama Season of Monsters (Szörnyek évadja, 1987), for the first time in almost twenty years he films scenes of contemporary Budapest. He also made Jesus Christ's Horoscope (Jézus Krisztus horoszkópja, 1988), in the early 1990s God Walks Backwards (Isten hátrafelé megy, 1991.), and co-directs The Blue Danube Waltz (Kék Duna keringö, 1992). In the 1990s he turned to making documentary and short films. Only in 1999 he came back to feature-length with the exceptionally successful film Lord's Lantern in Budapest (Nekem Lampast Adott Kezembe Az Ur Pesten, 1999). In this film he worked with the new director of photography, Ferenc Grunwalsky, who is also the co-writer. Due to the popularity of the film, he made five more comedies with the same protagonists Pepe and Kapa, between 2000 and 2006. His last two films were So Much For Justice! (Oda az igazság, 2010) and Hungary 2011 (Magyarország 2011, 2012). In addition to film, he did theatre directing, receiving many awards, including the prestigious Hungarian Béla Balázs Award.