Hungarian Film Director Visits

At the invitation of Katalin Vecsey of the Department of Theater and Rhetoric, Hungarian film director István Szabó recently visited Bates College. The winner of over 60 international film awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1981 for Mephisto, Szabó gave a public talk entitled "Close-up: The Art of Film." The next day he shared a private brunch with students from Kati Vecsey's first year Mephisto seminar. The students had studied the original screenplay and the film, and for five weeks before Szabó's visit had led discussion after the screening of five of his films. Reaction papers from several of the students in the seminar follow below.