V. László Kovács-Vilmos Zsigmond Cinematographer Competition
On the eve of the Hungarian Film Day, the László Kovács-Vilmos Zsigmond Cinematographer Awards will be presented at the Vigadó of Pest. In addition to the traditional categories, the gala will present various awards to members of the Hungarian cinematography community who have defined the world of Hungarian filmmaking for decades.
The event (the Golden Eye Cinematographer Festival) was renamed after the death of legendary cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, after two outstanding figures of the Hungarian film. Since 2004, the competition has recognized Hungarian and international film professionals such as János Badal, Billy Williams, Mátyás Erdély, István Hildebrand, György Illés, János Kende, Lajos Koltai, László Kovács, Tibor Máthé, Sándor Sára, János Tóth, Mari Törőcsik, Vittorio Storaro and Vilmos Zsigmond.
On April 29th the László Kovács-Zsigmond Vilmos Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Miklós Gurbán, a Béla Balázs Prize-winning cinematographer, who is known for his photography of films such as György Fehér’s Twilight (1990) and Passion (1998), Károly Makk’s Lili (2003), Gergely Z. Horváth’s Erdély aranykora (1989) or Miklós Szinetár’s Cosi fan tutte (1997).
The organizers also honor the career of Tamás Szabados, cinematographer and director with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Szabados defined the world of Hungarian television with his films We Went to Antarctica (1968), One and a Half Million Steps in Hungary (1979), the Mazsola series and documentaries, and his collaborations with psychologist Margit Rozsnyai.
This year, the Béla Bojkovszky Award goes to the chief lighting technician József Simon, who has worked in such captivating films as Tamara (2004), Son of Saul (2015), Eternal Winter (2018) and The Turin Horse (2011).
After many years, the HSC rings will be handed over again. The rings were first awarded in 2007 to film industry workers who made high-quality contributions to the production of a film as a collaborator of the cinematographer. This year, the organizers are recognizing the work of two professionals who in recent years have made a great effort to ensure that the film industry has well-qualified future workers.
On the one hand, Bálint Marafkó, who has worked on films such as So Much for Justice (2010), Queen of Sheba (2021), Cedars (2022), Károlyi (2021) and Aranybulla (2022), will be honored. Besides his achievements in these films, he also provides lighting, visual and stage design services for numerous films, TV productions and events with his company Two Men’s Show Lighting.
The other HSC ring goes to cinematographer Endre Schwindl, who, together with his company Schwindl Ltd., has been involved in the production, cinematography and editing of Hungarian films and TV productions since 1995.
For the first time in the history of the event, the László Kovács-Zsigmond Vilmos Kovács Honorary Grand Prize will be awarded to the film equipment company ARRI. The German company has been able to put its more than a decade of know-how to good use in Hungarian film productions and film education for many years and provided outstanding support for them.
Kovács László-Vilmos Zsigmond Kovács Cinematographer Competition
Béla “Richy” Romwalter and Judit Romwalter, founders of the László Kovács-Vilmos Zsigmond Cinematographer Competition, together with Emil Novák, Director of the HSC Film Crew School, renamed the Golden Eye Cinematographer Festival (founded by Emil Novák in 2004) after two outstanding filmmakers of the Hungarian film.
The main sponsors of the event are the Hungarian National Film Institute, the Hungarian Academy of Arts, ARRI Rental Budapest and Sparks Ltd., while the technical sponsors are Schwindl Ltd., Two Men’s Show Lighting and Pesti Vigadó.
