Miklós Jancsó

Retrospective at the 34th Bergamo Film Meeting (5 - 13 March 2016) for "the great master of Hungarian cinema". The retrospective is carried out in collaboration with Magyar Nemzeti Digitális Archívum és Filmintézet, to celebrate the digital restoration of his films.[2016].

This success led to a succession of 5 more Pepe (Zoltán Mucsi) and Kapa (Péter Scherer) films, the last in 2006. Jancsó also cemented his reputation by making appearances in a number of films, for example as himself in his Pepe and Kapa films and in guest roles in works by up-and-coming Hungarian directors.

After little success and a long break Jancsó returned with Nekem lámpást adott kezembe az Úr Pesten (1998), which proved to a be a surprising comeback for the director.

Jancsó was awarded the Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film festival in 1990.

Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival in 1987.

At that time, his films Magyar rapszódia (1979) and Allegro barbaro (1979) were the most expensive to have been produced in Hungary, but the critical reaction was muted.

Jancsó received the 'Best Director' award at the Cannes Film Festival 1972 for the film Még kér a nép (1972).

During the 1970s, Jancsó divided his time between Italy and Hungary and made a number of films in Italy, the best known of which is Private Vices, Public Pleasures (1976).

The long takes became a trademark of Jancsó, so for example the 80-minute long Sirokkó (1969) consists of only 12 shots.

His next film The Red and the White (1967) became Jancsó's biggest success internationally. It won for example the 'Best Foreign Film' award from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. In his following films he developed a personal style of historical analysis using complex camera movements, dance and popular songs, creating his own cinematic style he called "political musical".

His fifth feature film The Round-Up (1966) was a huge hit domestically and internationally and is often considered a significant work of world cinema. Hungarian film critic Zoltan Fabri called it "perhaps the best Hungarian film ever made. " Film critic Derek Malcolm included the film in his list of the 100 greatest films ever made. In Hungary, it was seen by over a million people (in a country with a population of 10 million).

Father of three: Nyika Jancsó (b. 1952), Katalin Jancsó (b. 1955), Dávid Jancsó (b. 1982). He also adopted Márta Mészáros's son, Zoltán Jancsó.

After fighting in WWII and a brief period as a POW, he chose to join the Film and Theater Academy in Budapest, and graduated with a diploma in Film Directing in 1950.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 465-473. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Jancsó received a degree in Law from the University of Cluj-Napoca in 1944.

Miklos Jancsó was born in 1921 in Vac, Hungary. His mother Angela Poparada was Romanian and his father Sandor Jancsó Hungarian.