Cannes Will Premiere Documentary on Legendary Cinematographers Kovacs and Zsigmond

Cannes Will Premiere Documentary on Legendary Cinematographers Kovacs and Zsigmond

LOS ANGELES, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- "No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos" will premiere as an official selection of Cannes Classics at the 61st Annual Cannes International Film Festival on May 22. The documentary tracks the 50-year journey of Laszlo Kovacs ("Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces," "Paper Moon," "Frances," etc.) and Vilmos Zsigmond ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Deer Hunter," "The River," etc.), beginning with their arrival in the United States as political refugees from Hungary in February 1957.

"There is poetic justice in this film premiering at Cannes," says producer-director James Chressanthis. "Laszlo shot 'Easy Rider,' an ultra-low budget, counterculture film that was a favorite with critics and fans at Cannes in 1969. That was the film which finally opened doors for Laszlo in Hollywood. I am overjoyed that our film will screen at Cannes. It is a perfect return to the place that launched the career of Laszlo Kovacs and then, in turn, his artistic brother Vilmos Zsigmond. They became legends in their own time."

Kovacs' body of work also includes such memorable films as "That Cold Day in the Park," "The King of Marvin Gardens," "Shampoo," "Ghostbusters," and "Mask." Zsigmond earned an Oscar(R) for "Close Encounters," and additional nominations for "The Deer Hunter," "The River and The Black Dahlia," as well as an Emmy(R) for "Stalin." His other credits include "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," "The Rose," "Deliverance" and the upcoming birth-of-jazz film, "Bolden!"

"No Subtitles Necessary" includes excerpts from more than 50 hours of interviews with Kovacs, Zsigmond and some 70 individuals whose lives they touched, including industry-heavyweights Karen Black, Peter Bogdanovich, Sandra Bullock, Richard Donner, Dennis Hopper, Tatum O'Neal, Bob Rafelson, Barbra Streisand, John Williams, Peter Fonda, Jon Voight, Irwin Winkler, Ellen Kuras, Owen Roizman and Haskell Wexler.

"Their brotherhood and how they struggled and triumphed is the heart of the story," says Chressanthis.

Kovacs and Zsigmond were born and raised in small towns in Hungary during a repressive communist regime. Zsigmond had just graduated from the Academy of Film and Drama in Budapest, where Kovacs was still a student, when a spontaneous revolt broke out. They borrowed film and a camera and documented the fighting on the streets.

"The Russians considered the camera a weapon," Kovacs reminisced. "We could have been shot on the spot," Zsigmond added. After the revolt was crushed, Zsigmond and Kovacs made a perilous trek on foot carrying thousands of feet of unprocessed film into Austria. They arrived in America with dreams of becoming cinematographers. They didn't speak English and had no connections or resources except for their natural talent and determination.

"When it comes to Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond, it's clear that the American New Wave of the late 1960s and early '70s wouldn't have flowered as it did without them," says film critic Leonard Maltin.

Chressanthis has earned a diverse range of nearly 40 credits since the early 1990s, including documentaries, independent features, television movies and episodic series. He shot the Emmy-nominated "Four Minutes" and "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows," and additional photography on the Oscar-winning "Chicago." He began his career shooting nearly 100 break-through music videos. Since 2005, Chressanthis has been a director and cinematographer of the popular dramatic series "Ghost Whisperer." He is currently preparing to shoot "Living Proof" with Harry Connick Jr. and Renee Zellweger.

Chressanthis began this project in February 2007. "Some wonderful people who shared my admiration for Laszlo and Vilmos both as artists and as extraordinary human beings joined me in this endeavor. NC Motion Pictures came onboard with critical financing. I also received terrific support from cinematographer Anka Malatynska and editor/co-producer Elisa Bonora. We were determined to tell the world how Laszlo and Vilmos affected the art of filmmaking, but this is also a story about their friendship."

Kian Soleimanpour, Zachary W. Kranzler and Tony Frere produced No Subtitles Necessary along with Chressanthis. Jimmy Conroy II and Dr. David Kaminsky are executive producers. For additional information about the documentary and the team who produced it, visit http://www.laszloandvilmos.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: James Chressanthis

CONTACT: Lisa Muldowney, lisam@ccspr.com, or Sally Christgau,
sallyc@ccspr.com, both for James Chressanthis, +1-760-438-5250

Web site:

http://www.laszloandvilmos.com/

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