István Szabó

István Szabó

A collection of films by István Szabó, the first Hungarian director to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Szabó's films offer a powerful vision of human experiences across two world wars, interweaving deeply personal stories against the larger tapestry of European history. His films are screening here in stunning new restorations from the Hungarian National Film Archive.

István Szabó
  • Confidence

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    István Szabó • Hungary • 1980 • Love and deceit in World War II.

    In World War II-era Hungary, the resistance pairs two unrelated members to act as husband and wife in an effort to stay hidden in plain sight. Will they be able to maintain the illusion without giving in to their gr...

  • Mephisto

    István Szabó • Hungary • 1981 • The Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film.

    Germany, the early 1930s. The Reich exerts increasing power, and Hendrik Höfgen faces a choice: to leave, or to stay? The passionate but struggling stage actor abandons his political views, reaping the rewar...

  • Colonel Redl

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    István Szabó • Hungary, Germany, Austria • 1984 • A lush, wartime story of hidden desire.

    Set in the lead up to WWI, Colonel Redl charts the rise of Alfred Redl to head of counterintelligence of the Austro-Hungarian Army. His hidden homosexuality, however, is used against him by ...