Jancsó, Miklós (1921– )

Hungarian film director and screenwriter. He developed a powerfully individualist style which complimented his political narratives. His films include Szegénylegények/The Round-up (1965), Csillagosok, katonák/The Red and the White (1967), Fényes szelek/The Confrontation (1968), and Még kér a nép/Red Psalm (1971), for which he received the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Jancsó began his film career as a newsreel director, then made shorts and documentaries before directing his first feature film, A harangok Rómába mentek/The Bells Have Gone to Rome (1958). After reaching the height of his international fame in the early 1970s, he continued to direct; these later films include Szerelmem Elektra/Elektreia (1974), Hajnal/Dawn (1986), Szörnyek évadja/The Monsters' Season (1987), Kék Duna keringó/Blue Danube Waltz (1992), Nekem lámpást adott kezembe az Úr, Pesten/Lord's Lantern in Budapest (1999), Utolsó vacsora az Arabs Szürkénél/Last Supper at the Arabian Gray Horse (2001), and Kelj fel, komám, ne aludjál/Wake Up, Mate, Don't You Sleep (2002). These later films failed to find the wider audience of his earlier works.