Márta Mészáros

Biography

Márta Mészáros (born 19 September 1931) is a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. The daughter of László Mészáros, a sculptor, Mészáros began her career working in documentary film, having made 25 documentary shorts over the span of ten years. Her full-length directorial debut, Eltavozott nap/The Girl (1968), was the first Hungarian film to have been directed by a woman, and won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Valladolid International Film Festival. Mészáros' work often combines autobiographical details with documentary footage. Prominent themes include characters' denials of their pasts, the consequences of dishonesty, and the problematics of gender. Her films often feature heroines from fragmented families, such as young girls seeking their missing parents (The Girl) or middle-aged women looking to adopt children (Adoption). Although Mészáros has made over fifteen feature films, she is arguably best known for Diary for My Children (1984), which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the first entry in a trilogy of autobiographical films which also includes Diary for my Lovers (1987) and Diary for my Father and Mother (1990). Throughout her career, Més…

Directed

1. Adoption (1975) — Director
2. Diary for My Children (1984) — Director
3. Don’t Cry, Pretty Girls! (1970) — Director
4. The Girl (1968) — Director
5. Nine Months (1976) — Director
6. Diary for My Loves (1987) — Director
7. The Inheritance (1980) — Director
8. The Two of Them (1978) — Director
9. Aurora Borealis: Northern Light (2017) — Director
10. The Seventh Room (1996) — Director
11. Binding Sentiments (1969) — Director
12. Diary for My Father and My Mother (1990) — Director
13. Riddance (1973) — Director
14. Daughters of Fortune (1999) — Director
15. The Unburied Man (2004) — Director
16. Just Like at Home (1978) — Director
17. Little Vilma: The Last Diary (2000) — Director
18. On the Move (1979) — Director
19. Bye Bye, Red Riding Hood (1989) — Director
20. Blow-Ball (1965) — Director
21. A Mother, a Daughter (1981) — Director
22. Edith and Marlene (1993) — Director
23. Fetus (1994) — Director
24. The Miraculous Mandarin (2001) — Director
25. In Memoriam László Mészáros (1968) — Director
26. The Land of Mirage (1983) — Director
27. Last Report on Anna (2009) — Director
28. At the End of September (1974) — Director
29. At the Lőrinc Spinnery (1972) — Director
30. Everyday Stories (1955) — Director
31. Tomorrow's Shift (1959) — Director
32. Salesmanship (1960) — Director
33. My Mother's Letters to Stalin (2015) — Director
34. Hungary 2011 (2012) — Director
35. Vieras (1984) — Director
36. Let All Children Smile (1957) — Director
37. Women of Today (1958) — Director
38. Heartbeat (1961) — Director
39. Care and Affection (1962) — Director
40. Szentendre And Its Painters (1964) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Still Alive: A Film About Krzysztof Kieslowski (2006) — Self
2. Les Rendez-vous du dimanche (1975) — Self
3. Márta Mészáros: Portrait of the Hungarian Filmmaker (1979) — Self
4. Negative history of Hungarian cinema (2010) — Self
5. Notes in Lifestyle Margins (2002)