He has been awarded the prestigious Béla Balázs Award, and has won several awards at national and international film festivals. He is a board member of the Independent Hungarian Filmmakers Society and member of the Hungarian Film Director’s Society. He has received his Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA) degree in 2015 at the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest. He has been teaching at ELTE BTK Department of Film Studies since 2000, he has been an associate professor since 2018. Between 2012 and 2015 he was a visiting professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. He is a member of the Közgáz Visual Brigade, which is a film production company and an independent film organisation. 

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You were born in Cairo and your second given name is Ali. Can you tell us why?

At the time when I was born my parents were working in Cairo. I lived there for only three months and I never went back, unfortunately. Ali was chosen by my parents as a courtesy towards the country and the hospital. They have chosen Ali because it is a genuine Arabic name and it also sounds natural in the Hungarian language. 

What would you be if you weren't a filmmaker and why did you become one in the first place?

I have zero idea what I would be if I weren’t the person who I am today. As of now, I am a university professor and a filmmaker. I don’t have other skills and I’m not even sure that I’m qualified to do these. In my whole life, I wanted to be a filmmaker or a person who sticks his nose in filmmaking. I was growing up in an era, when film was the most important art and not only Comrade Lenin thought this way but the whole intelligentsia, too. In the 1960s and 1970s cinema meant the world to us and what else one wanted to create but motion pictures?

You have been teaching in Hong Kong and you could have continued there but you returned to Hungary. How was it there and why did you decide to come back? 

It was an honour to teach at the City University of Hong Kong for years and more specifically at the School of Creative Media, which is one of the most important creative workshops and training platforms in Asia. It was an incredible experience working with a colorful, international team, in an institution which is developing dynamically and plans for the long haul. I gained a ton of experience and learned a lot during the time I spent there. Europe seems far away when you look at it from Hong Kong, only the USA, Great Britain, France and maybe Germany are visible. From their point of view, Europe with its problems, tiny countries and differences, and its cultural superiority is only a strange phenomenon. Being there permanently, slowly and unnoticeably shapes one’s thinking, whether it is about politics, history or art. Now I’m finishing up a film about my experiences over there and maybe it will be presented somewhere.

It was my own decision to come back, I have my family, cultural roots and the ruins of my foundations here. The chaos at home is familiar and I’m experienced enough that I don’t mind not knowing what’s happening.

Your main professions are teacher and cinematographer, but are you working on something now as a director or producer?

I currently have many roles. This summer I shot a short film as a DOP, my no-budget documentary feature about Hong Kong is in the process of editing, where I function as a director, editor and also the catering manager. Every year I am a producer and creative producer of several student films at Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, I’m a script consultant or creative producer in many independent documentaries of young filmmakers. I’m learning a lot and training myself while I try to perform these tasks. I am toying with an idea of writing a screenplay and I’m developing a documentary, too. 

As a documentary maker, what do you think of the possibilities of the animated documentary?

The widespread usage of the animation technology completely changed the attitude towards filmmaking, whether it is about live action films or films primarily created by animation. Using animation in a documentary doesn't necessarily add value in itself,  because what happens if it doesn't hit an aesthetic level, if it is awkward or weak? On the other hand, animation can open up new perspectives just like Waltz with Bashir did in 2008: it introduced a fresh and radical new expression to the audience. And not to mention the radicalism of the narrative of the film. There could be some untapped possibilities when it comes to the approaching of the topics of the film and also in the narrative forms. The young Hungarian documentary, if not necessarily in the field of animation, has opened up to the word not only thematically but also aesthetically and I think this is a great sign.

As an "outsider in the world of animation" , what will be your criteria for evaluating the films you will see in Primanima?

On the one hand, I'm really an outsider, though not completely. This year we are venturing into something big. I will be the producer of Márton Szirmai’s feature-length animation, titled Where Did I Go Wrong? The project is supported by the Incubator Program of the Hungarian Film Fund and we are hoping the production will finish around 2020-21. It a great adventure and I cannot even imagine what these years will bring. I have made a ton of live-action films, but I have only met fully animated films in the cinema, never during production. I understand the mechanism in theory, but I could never create it myself and I need to learn how to think in this realm, too. For these reasons, I will be a mere audience member at Primanima, who is not burdened with any insider knowledge. The films, regardless of the technology or genre, first and foremost is about the senses: we see pictures and hear a sound, noises. I can promise that I will be open-minded and without any prejudice.

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The interview was made and translated by Dóra Bartal