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Márta Mészáros

Director

Márta Mészáros

Born September 19, 1931 in Budapest, Hungary40 films

Márta Mészáros (born 19 September 1931) is a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. The daughter of László Mészáros, a sculptor, Mészáros began her career working in documentary film, having made 25 documentary shorts over the span of ten years. Her full-length directorial debut, Eltavozott nap/The Girl (1968), was the first Hungarian film to have been directed by a woman, and won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Valladolid International Film Festival.

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Mészáros' work often combines autobiographical details with documentary footage. Prominent themes include characters' denials of their pasts, the consequences of dishonesty, and the problematics of gender. Her films often feature heroines from fragmented families, such as young girls seeking their missing parents (The Girl) or middle-aged women looking to adopt children (Adoption).

Although Mészáros has made over fifteen feature films, she is arguably best known for Diary for My Children (1984), which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the first entry in a trilogy of autobiographical films which also includes Diary for my Lovers (1987) and Diary for my Father and Mother (1990).

Throughout her career, Mészáros has won the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear awards at the Berlinale; the Golden Medal at the Chicago International Film Festival; the Silver Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival; and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1991 she was a member of the jury at the 17th Moscow International Film Festival.

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The best way into Márta Mészáros's work
Adoption posterFirst watchAdoption19756.7When middle-aged Kata realises that her life will only be complete if she has a baby of her own, her longstanding-but-married boyfriend Joska refuses to comply.View film

Filmography

40 films as director
  1. 2017Aurora Borealis: Northern LightDirector
  2. 2015My Mother's Letters to StalinDirector
  3. 2012Hungary 2011Director
  4. 2009Last Report on AnnaDirector
  5. 2004The Unburied ManDirector
  6. 2001The Miraculous MandarinDirector
  7. 2000Little Vilma: The Last DiaryDirector
  8. 1999Daughters of FortuneDirector
  9. 1996The Seventh RoomDirector
  10. 1994FetusDirector
  11. 1993Edith and MarleneDirector
  12. 1990Diary for My Father and My MotherDirector
  13. 1989Bye Bye, Red Riding HoodDirector
  14. 1987Diary for My LovesDirector
  15. 1984VierasDirector
  16. 1984Diary for My ChildrenDirector
  17. 1983The Land of MirageDirector
  18. 1981A Mother, a DaughterDirector
  19. 1980The InheritanceDirector
  20. 1979On the MoveDirector
  21. 1978Just Like at HomeDirector
  22. 1978The Two of ThemDirector
  23. 1976Nine MonthsDirector
  24. 1975AdoptionDirector
  25. 1974At the End of SeptemberDirector
  26. 1973RiddanceDirector
  27. 1972At the Lőrinc SpinneryDirector
  28. 1970Don’t Cry, Pretty Girls!Director
  29. 1969Binding SentimentsDirector
  30. 1968The GirlDirector
  31. 1968In Memoriam László MészárosDirector
  32. 1965Blow-BallDirector
  33. 1964Szentendre And Its PaintersDirector
  34. 1962Care and AffectionDirector
  35. 1961HeartbeatDirector
  36. 1960SalesmanshipDirector
  37. 1959Tomorrow's ShiftDirector
  38. 1958Women of TodayDirector
  39. 1957Let All Children SmileDirector
  40. 1955Everyday StoriesDirector