Ilona Kolonits
Encyclopedia
Ilona Kolonits was a Hungarian documentary film director.
. During the Second World War the Kolonits family helped and sheltered in their home victims of fascist persecution, and the teen-aged Ilona rescued of a number of Jewish children by taking them out of the Budapest getto in this way saving them from being deported to concentration camps (in 2007 Ilona Kolonits, her mother, Paolina Holka, and Ilona's two elder sisters, Margit and Paola were awarded the Righteous Among the Nations
title by Yom HaShoah
). During this time Erzsébet Garai who was orphaned was practically adopted into the Kolonits family and the two girls formed a friendship which lasted a lifetime. Garai later became one of the first Hungarian women film theoreticians, and for decades she was the Director of the Hungarian Film Institute and editor of its periodical, 'Filmkultúra' (Film Culture). Garai's knowledge of film and ethical theories was later to provide inspiration for Kolonits towards conceptual frameworks of her cinematic projects. In 1944 Kolonits' father, Ferenc Kolonits was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp
amongst other leading members of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party
, and in April 1945 he took part in the uprising
which led to the liberation of the camp. The memories of fascist persecutions in Hungary against Jews and left-wing political activist left a lasting impression on Kolonits and formed the basis to her lifelong commitment to ideas of international peace and cross-cultural understanding.
After the Second World War Kolonits studied acting at the College of Theatrical and Film Studies in Budapest, and in 1953 she completed her PhD in Documentary Film and Cinema at the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) where she met Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov. Kolonits befriended a number of contemporary Russian filmmakers and writers, and this is when her lifelong friendship began with the Russian film director Grigorij Csuhraj and his family.
Kolonits was amongst the first women film directors in Hungary. Between 1951 and 1989 she was employed as film director at the Mafilm Film Studios in Budapest and later at the Hungarian Documentary Film Studios. While other Hungarian women film makers of her generation including Márta Mészáros
and Ilona Katkics produced films in other genres, Kolonits remained faithful throughout her life to her calling as a documentary filmmaker. In 1954 Kolonits became a fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.Csőke József, 'Kolonits Ilona (1922–2002)', Krónika, Filmvilág folyóirat 2002/09 03. old. She died in Budapest.
Ilona Kolonits' best known and most disputed film is Ez It Happened (1957), the first politically directive film of the Kádár era (1957–1989) in Hungary. The film was edited from documentary footages in support of the political status quo and was narrated by faithful to the Kadar system journalists. The historical attention to this one film made early on in Kolonits' career overshadowed the importance of the considerable on international scale cinematic heritage of Kolonits' humanist documentary cinema.Lóránt,Stőhr, 'Nothing is Set in Stone - Conversation with Éva Kármentő' (Semmi sincs kőbe vésve - Beszélgetés Kármentő Évával)
Kolonits' style of film making was influenced by the great Russian documentalist film directors including Dziga (Dzyga) Vertov - Following in Vertov's tradition Kolonits took an active part in shooting of footage of her films at times daring risky locations with the camera. Kolonits documentaries focused on ordinary people's lives, she liked poetical and lyrical montage and relished narration through images. In 1955 Kolonits started a several decades-long series of documentary films entitled Birthday which followed the lives of a group of Hungarian women throughout their school reunions thus giving a more intimate, feminine view of a generation of Hungarian women.
Kolonits' later films in their essence promoted ideas of peace and intercultural integration through portraying the everyday lives of ordinary people around the world, often women and children, in the shadow of great historical events. In the 1960s and 1970s Kolonits filmed numerous documentaries and news items in the Middle and Far East often braving war time conditions. One of her most outstanding cinematic achievements is the short film Eroica (1975), which portrays the impact of the Vietnam War
on the lives of Vietnamese women and children in a series of images harmonised to the sounds of Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Op. 55) by Ludwig van Beethoven
(known as the Eroica
, Italian for "heroic").
Film and Cinematic Festival awards won by Ilona Kolonits included Párizs, Moscow
, Oberhausen
, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Mexico City
, Budapest
és Miskolc
.
Biography
Ilona Kolonits was born in Budapest to a family of political activists who took an active part in the Hungarian anti-fascist *resistance movement during the Second World War . Kolonits was influenced by the selfless social dedication of her family and also by their associations with left-wing humanist intellectuals including the Hungarian poet, Attila JózsefAttila József
Attila József was one of the most important and well-known Hungarian poets of the 20th century.-Biography:The son of Áron József, a soap factory worker of Romanian origin from Bánát, and Hungarian peasant girl Borbála Pőcze, he was born in Ferencváros, a poor district of Budapest. He had two elder...
. During the Second World War the Kolonits family helped and sheltered in their home victims of fascist persecution, and the teen-aged Ilona rescued of a number of Jewish children by taking them out of the Budapest getto in this way saving them from being deported to concentration camps (in 2007 Ilona Kolonits, her mother, Paolina Holka, and Ilona's two elder sisters, Margit and Paola were awarded the Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
title by Yom HaShoah
Yom HaShoah
Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah , known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews and five million others who perished in the...
). During this time Erzsébet Garai who was orphaned was practically adopted into the Kolonits family and the two girls formed a friendship which lasted a lifetime. Garai later became one of the first Hungarian women film theoreticians, and for decades she was the Director of the Hungarian Film Institute and editor of its periodical, 'Filmkultúra' (Film Culture). Garai's knowledge of film and ethical theories was later to provide inspiration for Kolonits towards conceptual frameworks of her cinematic projects. In 1944 Kolonits' father, Ferenc Kolonits was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
amongst other leading members of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party
Hungarian Social Democratic Party
The Hungarian Social Democratic Party is a political party in Hungary. Both the MSZDP and SZDP lay claim to the same heritage: the Social Democratic Party which was part of a governing coalition in Hungary between 1945 and 1948, and a short period in 1956, which itself was renamed from the...
, and in April 1945 he took part in the uprising
Buchenwald Resistance
The Buchenwald Resistance was a resistance group of prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp. It involved Communists, Social Democrats, and people affiliated with other political parties, unaffiliated people, and Christians. Because Buchenwald prisoners came from a number of countries, the...
which led to the liberation of the camp. The memories of fascist persecutions in Hungary against Jews and left-wing political activist left a lasting impression on Kolonits and formed the basis to her lifelong commitment to ideas of international peace and cross-cultural understanding.
After the Second World War Kolonits studied acting at the College of Theatrical and Film Studies in Budapest, and in 1953 she completed her PhD in Documentary Film and Cinema at the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) where she met Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov. Kolonits befriended a number of contemporary Russian filmmakers and writers, and this is when her lifelong friendship began with the Russian film director Grigorij Csuhraj and his family.
Kolonits was amongst the first women film directors in Hungary. Between 1951 and 1989 she was employed as film director at the Mafilm Film Studios in Budapest and later at the Hungarian Documentary Film Studios. While other Hungarian women film makers of her generation including Márta Mészáros
Márta Mészáros
Márta Mészáros is a Hungarian film director. She worked as an English Teachersmeaning? filmmaker in the 1960s, but in the following decade began making films drawing on the oppression of both state and gender...
and Ilona Katkics produced films in other genres, Kolonits remained faithful throughout her life to her calling as a documentary filmmaker. In 1954 Kolonits became a fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.Csőke József, 'Kolonits Ilona (1922–2002)', Krónika, Filmvilág folyóirat 2002/09 03. old. She died in Budapest.
Films
Ilona Kolonits shot over 500 newsreels and directed over one hundred documentary, popular science and sport films, of which 17 received international and six national Hungarian festival awards.Ilona Kolonits' best known and most disputed film is Ez It Happened (1957), the first politically directive film of the Kádár era (1957–1989) in Hungary. The film was edited from documentary footages in support of the political status quo and was narrated by faithful to the Kadar system journalists. The historical attention to this one film made early on in Kolonits' career overshadowed the importance of the considerable on international scale cinematic heritage of Kolonits' humanist documentary cinema.Lóránt,Stőhr, 'Nothing is Set in Stone - Conversation with Éva Kármentő' (Semmi sincs kőbe vésve - Beszélgetés Kármentő Évával)
Kolonits' style of film making was influenced by the great Russian documentalist film directors including Dziga (Dzyga) Vertov - Following in Vertov's tradition Kolonits took an active part in shooting of footage of her films at times daring risky locations with the camera. Kolonits documentaries focused on ordinary people's lives, she liked poetical and lyrical montage and relished narration through images. In 1955 Kolonits started a several decades-long series of documentary films entitled Birthday which followed the lives of a group of Hungarian women throughout their school reunions thus giving a more intimate, feminine view of a generation of Hungarian women.
Kolonits' later films in their essence promoted ideas of peace and intercultural integration through portraying the everyday lives of ordinary people around the world, often women and children, in the shadow of great historical events. In the 1960s and 1970s Kolonits filmed numerous documentaries and news items in the Middle and Far East often braving war time conditions. One of her most outstanding cinematic achievements is the short film Eroica (1975), which portrays the impact of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
on the lives of Vietnamese women and children in a series of images harmonised to the sounds of Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Op. 55) by Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
(known as the Eroica
Eroica
The name Eroica may refer to:*The Eroica Symphony, by Ludwig van Beethoven;*The Eroica Variations for piano, also by Beethoven;*The Eroica Piano Trio, an American chamber ensemble;...
, Italian for "heroic").
Selected awards
- 2007 - 'Righteous Among the NationsRighteous Among the NationsRighteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
', awarded by the Commission for Designation of the Righteous of the The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority (Yom HaShoahYom HaShoahYom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah , known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews and five million others who perished in the...
), Jerusalem, Israel - 1980 - Outstanding Artist, Hungarian State Award
- 1979 - International Olympic Committee
- 1973 - Distinguished Artist, Hungarian State Award
- 1963 - The Béla Balázs Award, Hungarian State Award
- 1965 - The 'SZOT' Hungarian State Award
Film and Cinematic Festival awards won by Ilona Kolonits included Párizs, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Oberhausen
Oberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
és Miskolc
Miskolc
Miskolc is a city in northeastern Hungary, mainly with heavy industrial background. With a population close to 170,000 Miskolc is the fourth largest city of Hungary It is also the county capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and the regional centre of Northern Hungary.- Geography :Miskolc is located...
.
Selected filmography
- NURSERY OLYMPICS (ÓVIS OLIMPIA), 1979
- EROICA, 1975
- GREETINGS IN APRIL (ÁPRILISI KÖSZÖNTÖ) ,1960
- HISTORY LESSON FOR BOYS (TÖRTÉNELMI LECKE FIÚKNAK), 1960
- THE LAST CURTAIN (AZ UTOLSÓ FELVONÁS), 1959
- WILL SHALL MEET IN VIENNA (BÉCSBEN TALÁLKOZTUNK), 1959
- MAY I? (SZABAD?), 1958
- IN THE WHOLE WORLD APART FROM HERE (NAGYVILÁGON E KIVÜL), 1957
- TALKING FRUIT (BESZÉLO GYÜMÖLCSÖK), 1957
- AS IT HAPPENED (ÍGY TÖRTENT), 1957
- A CHANGE OF PROGRAMME (MŰSORVÁLTOZÁS), 1957
- SIX BOYS, SIX BUSES (HAT FIU, HAT BUSZ), 1956
- A STORY ON THE SAJÓ (SAJÓPARTI TÖRTÉNET), 1955
- BIRTHDAY (SZÜLETÉSNAP), 1955
- JOURNEY IN SZABOLCS (UTAZÁS SZABOLCSBAN), 1955
- BUDAPEST INDUSTRIAL EXPO (BUDAPESTI HELYIIPARI VÁSÁR), 1955
- BUDAPEST 1953
- AT MÁTYÁSFÖLD, (MÁTYÁSFÖLDÖN), 1953
- THEY NEED PEACE (NEKIK BÉKE KELL), 1952