Panaji: Noted Hungarian Filmmaker Istvan Szabo has been conferred the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award by the 52nd International Film Festival of India, at the opening ceremony held in Goa today, November 20, 2021.
For his outstanding contribution to World cinema, Istvan Szabo has been honored with the award at IFFI 52, which will come to a grand closing on November 28, 2021.
An extraordinary artist, Istvan Szabo achieved international success with his film Mephisto in the year 1981. The film is the first Hungarian film to have won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film. His movies broke the barrier of language and touched viewers’ hearts everywhere around the world.
Conveying his acceptance through a video message, Istvan Szabo said, “I am deeply moved to realize the fact that Indians know my films and some of them even love it.”
Expressing his gratitude for being presented with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award, Istvan Szabo reminisced about his meeting with the legendary Satyajit Ray, which took place more than 30 years ago in the then Madras. “Ray invited me and my wife for dinner, which was excellent. We had a fantastic discussion on his films and film-making, our profession. It was a profound discussion that I will never forget.”
