Embassy photos & interview credit: Janet Donovan
“In all of my life as a cinematographer, I think The Deer Hunter was the one which qualifies for me to say it was one of the best films of all times,” said Academy Award winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond at a dinner in his honor at the residence of H.E.Gyorgy Szapary, The Ambassador of Hungary.
“That’s not only my movie, it is everybody’s movie – directing, acting, script, music, everything in all departments. It’s a brilliant film.”
Photo credit: Courtesy of film.com
“The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steelworkers and their service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep. The story takes place in Clairton, a small working class town in the south of Pittsburgh and then in Vietnam, somewhere in the woodland and in Saigon during the Vietnam War.
The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walkin and was named by the American Film Institute as the 53rd Greatest Movie of All Time.” Wikepedia
Vilmos Zsigmond and Myra MacPherson
It was only natural that the subject of Vietnam was the gravitational force that pulled Zsigmond and MacPherson into deep conversation. MacPherson, who recently visited Vietnam, is the author of Long Time Passing: Vietnam and The Haunted Generation – nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and recognized as required reading in most educational institutions.
Catherine Wyler, whose father was Academy Award winning director William Wyler (Ben-Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Mrs. Miniver), was also drawn to Zsigmond by virtue of common accomplishments of her father and Zsigmond who shared not only Oscar distinction, but who were both recognized for cinematograpy. Wyler achieved cinematography fame for Wuthering Heights (1939) and Zsigmond the Oscar for the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg). Catherine is a producer in her own right: Think Memphis Belle and Witness to Hope.
H.E. Dr. Tibor Navracsics, Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary, Amb. Szapáry and Dr. Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Institution’s Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture shown at a previous event announcing the Hungarian Heritage Festival
The dinner occasion was part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival Hungarian Heritage: “Roots to Revival” program and the Film Series “Hungary, Hero and Myth: Immigrant Experience and the Artist’s Eye” organized jointly with the National Gallery of Arts.
Guests dined on typical Hungarian cuisine and wine
A survey conducted by the International Cinematographers Guild placed Zsigmond among the ten most influential cinematographers in history. Main slider photo courtesy of fdtimes.com
Hollywood on the Potomac sat down with Zsigmond to discuss his career:
Hungary, Hero and Myth: Immigrant Experience and the Artist’s Eye No Subtitles Necessary: Courtesy of PBS
The Deer Hunter Trailer: Courtesy of Old Holllywood Trailers:
