"I think it helped me a great deal that in Hungarian film school our studies were concentrated on the arts. We studied the history of painting; we went to museums at least once a week. It helps to learn feelings for compositions, lights, colors and all that. If you start living in an artistic world, you start thinking like an artist. It's not bad for a cameraman to be a sort of painter...Cameramen should have something to say, something to tell and if you don't have that, you should be working somewhere else." Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond


Vilmos Zsigmond is a fantastic subject to profile, and an excellent introduction to his life and work is the documentary "No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos". Laszlo Kovacs and Zsigmond were both born in Hungary and their destinies became intertwined when they met at film school. Zsigmond was the older of the two (by three years) and helped Kovacs get accepted. Kovacs returned the favor later in Los Angeles, by recommending Zsigmond to Peter Fonda.

As evidenced by the quote above, Zsigmond had rather exacting standards. Once Zsigmond and Kovacs safely escaped the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 and made it to the US, Kovacs made the decision to return to Hungary to get his girlfriend. Zsigmond waited on the Austrian side of the border, setting a date and time for their rendezvous. Kovacs' girlfriend, he discovered, was already in Austria, so he brought out Zsigmond's girlfriend and uncle. The trio had to dodge Soviet troops but made it safely over the border. Zsigmond's first comment upon seeing them was "You're late."

Zsigmond's first major success was "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. The film has been digitally restored and will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray from Criterion on August 9th. The extras will include archival footage of interviews with director Robert Altman and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.

In April, there was a disturbing article by Gay Talese in "New Yorker" magazine. Talese profiled a man named Gerald Foos, who operated a hotel solely for the purpose of spying on his guests. Talese has a book forthcoming on the subject and it will also be a film, with Sam Mendes ("Spectre") directing and producing. Screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns is doing the script for "The Voyeur's Motel" and Talese was reportedly paid $1 million for the film rights. If you want to be repelled and fascinated at the same time, check out the April 11th issue of "New Yorker".



Here's the latest article from the Drama Movies site at BellaOnline.com.

Vilmos Zsigmond - Master Cinematographer
When Vilmos Zsigmond died on New Year's Day, 2016, American film lost one of its greatest photographers. A Hungarian immigrant, Zsigmond helped revolutionize the look of film in the 1970s. His work includes "The Deer Hunter", "Deliverance" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art62235.asp

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