István Szőts

Hungarian screenwriter and film director

István Szőts
Born	(1912-06-30)June 30, 1912 Szentgyörgyválya, Austria-Hungary
Died	November 6, 1998(1998-11-06) (aged 86) Vienna, Austria
Resting place	Farkasréti Cemetery
Nationality	Hungarian
Occupation(s)	Screenwriter, director
Years active	1941–1975
Known for	Directing the 1942 movie People of the Mountains
Spouse	Alice Szellay [hu]
Awards	Kossuth Prize (1992)

István Szőts (June 30, 1912 – November 6, 1998) was a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. He was born in Szentgyörgyválya (now Valea Sângeorgiului, Călan, Romania), 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.^[1]

Activity

He is best known for his 1942 film People of the Mountains which won first prize at the Venice Biennale.^[2] Szőts became an assistant director in 1940, and in 1942 made his first feature film 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.^[3] It wasn't until 1947 that he was able to make his second feature film Song of the Cornfields.

Selected filmography

People of the Mountains (1942)
Loving Hearts (1944)
Song of the Cornfields (1947)
Melyiket a kilenc közül? (1956)

References

^ "Copil de țărani din Valea Sângeorgiului (Hunedoara), regizor faimos în Budapesta și Viena" [Child of peasants from Szentgyörgyválya (Hunedoara), famous director in Budapest and Vienna] (in Romanian). infocultural.eu. 26 November 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
^ Kindem p.173
^ Burns p.15

Bibliography

Burns, Bryan. World Cinema: Hungary. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996.
Kindem, Gorham Anders. The International Movie Industry. SIU Press, 2000.