Ilona Kolonits (17 March 1922 in Budapest – 2 August 2002 in Budapest) was a Hungarian documentary film director and international news correspondent. She was an early war correspondent and also was among the first women to be film directors. Kolonits' films were known for their lyrical treatment of historical events and the lives of ordinary people. Kolonits received numerous awards, and nominations throughout her career, including international film festivals in Paris, Moscow, Oberhausen, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Berlin, Leipzig, Mexico City and Budapest.Csőke József, 'Kolonits Ilona (1922–2002)', Krónika, Filmvilág folyóirat 2002/09 03. old. Kolonits has been awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations and the 'Pro Virtue' Award for Courage of the Republic of Hungary for saving the lives of many during the Second World War.
Biography
Kolonits was born in 1922 in Budapest to a family of notable humanitarian political activists. Her father Ferenc Kolonits and mother Paulina Kolonits (née Holka) took an active part in the Hungarian anti-fascist resistance movement in the Second World War. Ilona volunteered to rescue over 40 children from the Budapest Ghetto who were destined to be deported and killed in the Nazi's concentration camps. In 2007, alongside her mother and her two sisters, Margit and Paola Kolonits, she was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations title by Yad Vashem in recognition of saving the lives of numerous people during the Second World War.Yad Vashem The Kolonits family sheltered in their country home and fashion boutique in Budapest a great number of Jewish people and anti-fascists persecuted by the Nazis this way saving them from being killed by the fascists in Hungary or in death camps. Ilona's elder sister, Margit rescued children of Jewish prisoners while they were being deported. Among others, the Kolonits family rescued and adopted an orphan of the Holocaust, Erzsebet Garai, the later well known film theoretician and editor of a renowned Film theory periodical, Filmkultura. In 1944, Ilona's father Ferenc was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp for his anti-fascist activities along with other leading members of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party. He took an active role in organising the Buchenwald Resistance movement and fought to liberate the prisoners from the camp.
Ilona also took part in carrying messages during the Nazi occupation between groups taking part in resistance in various parts of Budapest. During the Siege of Budapest she was cut off from her family, on the other side of the city over the Danube river and was stranded in a cellar for several weeks without food and very little water. She wrote a farewell note to her family but was saved when the Nazis were driven out of Budapest by the advancing 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Front of the Soviet Army. Having witnessed the brutal fascist persecutions, numerous atrocities from the Nazis against minorities, and the street fights in Budapest during the Second World War made a lasting impression on Ilona and formed her lifelong commitment to international peace and humanitarian affairs.Margit Kolonits, 'My Memoirs' ('Visszaemlékezéseim') (10 August 1976, Budapest), manuscript, in private collection
As a child Ilona was interested in drama, acting and athletic sports. After the Second World War she studied at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest and subsequently went on to study film directing. She wrote her thesis in Documentary Cinema, and in 1954 became a Fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, one of the first women to do so, alongside Dr. Elizabeth Garai and Yvette Biro. In the anti-fascist movement, she befriended many young Hungarian writers, artists and poets including the poet Attila József, and later she became a member of the Fészek Art Club in Budapest.
Career
Between 1951 and 1989 Kolonits was a film director at the Mafilm Film Studios in Budapest and later at the Hungarian Documentary Film Studios. While other Hungarian filmmakers of her generation including Márta Mészáros and Ilona Katkics produced feature films, Kolonits remained faithful to her calling as a documentary filmmaker.
Kolonits was a dedicated documentary film director and international news and war correspondent. She shot over 500 newsreels and directed over one hundred documentaries, popular science and sport films, of which 17 received international and six Hungarian film awards. Kolonits risked her life in order to provide news from remote and conflict ridden parts of the world. She filmed armed conflicts in the Middle East and Far East in the 1960s and 1970s, accepting assignments turned down by her colleagues because of the dangers involved. Kolonits' poetic and expressive documentary cinema aimed to promote world peace, justice, equality and humanitarian causes. Kolonits often portrayed minority groups in her films, and she was in particular concerned with the cause of women and children whose lives were distraught by violent conflicts. One of her cinematic achievements is the short film Eroica (1975), which depicts the tragedy of the Vietnam War on the lives of women and children in a series of images edited to the sounds of Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Op. 55) by Ludwig van Beethoven (known as the Eroica, Italian for "heroic") played by the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. Eroica advocates peace over war by expressing simultaneously the great sorrow of loss and the overwhelming joy of rebirth in peace lived by a whole nation.
Kolonits' best known and most disputed film is As It Happened (1957), a documentary portraying the events of the 1956 Uprising in Hungary. The film was edited from original footages which Kolonits herself shot on the streets of Budapest as none of the Hungarian film directors nor camera crews were prepared to work under the conditions of violent conflict.Elena Kaplinskaya 'The Cinema of Moscow', Profizdat 1991 pp. 124-140 By risking her life while filming alone on the streets during the fights, Kolonits provided authentic documentary footages of the armed conflict. Elena Kaplinskaya 'Illuzion', Profizdat 1991 pp. 124-140 The political controversy surrounding this film related to the interpretation of the events through editing in years to come overshadowed the international cinematic heritage of Kolonits' humanist documentary cinema.Lóránt, Stőhr, 'Nothing is Set in Stone - Conversation with Éva Kármentő' (Semmi sincs kőbe vésve - Beszélgetés Kármentő Évával)
Kolonits' cinematic style has been characterised as lyrical and poetic. In her films she depicted the beauty and heroism in the everyday lives of people. Her kindness and compassion won hearts both in her home country and worldwide allowing Kolonits to portray intimate moments of joy and grief, traditions and customs of minority and ethnic communities, women and children. In 1955 she started a several-decades-long series of documentary films entitled Birthday following the lives of a group of women throughout their annual school reunions, this way presenting a very personal, feminine view of a generation. Among Kolonits' cinematic subjects were Fine Art. 'Thank You For The Clay' (Köszöntöm az agyagot) (1976) is a homage to the art and skill of the renewed Hungarian sculptor, Margit Kovacs.Ilona Kolonits "Thank You For The Clay" (Köszöntöm az agyagot) − fragment Kolonis' 1988 film You Like Horses, Don't You? addresses animal rights. Kolonits gave a lyrical homage to the city where she was born and which she loved in her film Budapest. The films of Kolonits are filed at the Hungarian National Digital Film Archives and Film Institute and are protected by the Hungarian Society for the Protection of Audio-Visual Authors' and Producers' Rights.
Personal life
Kolonits was considered by those few who knew her well to be a kind, courageous, noble yet lighthearted person. She never gave interviews, enjoying a private and modest life with her parents in a green suburb of Budapest. Kolonits spent her free time between her parents, siblings and extended family with whom she shared her love of reading and nature walks. She collected in her home a considerable library and art collection, while often giving large amounts anonymously to charity in support of children orphaned due to violent conflicts and war.
The only known romantic interest Kolonits had was a platonic fascination with the Hungarian poet Attila József. Their age difference, József's engagement, and eventual early death made any relationship between them impossible. Kolonits was inspired by his artistic talent, patriotic feelings and pacifist activities. József's speeches at the meetings of the young anti-fascists, condemning social injustice, the death penalty and supporting the cause of the oppressed minorities had a profound influence on her during her youth, and Kolonits lived by these humanitarian values throughout her life.
Kolonits died in Budapest in 2002 at the age of 80. Her ashes are resting alongside those of her parents in the historical pantheon of the Farkasréti Cemetery in Budapest.:hu:A Farkasréti temető nevezetes halottainak listája#K Her last wish was for József's poem, At The Danube (1936), expressing a hope for peace and for national and international reconciliation, to be read at her memorial service.
Selected awards 1963 - The Béla Balázs Award, Hungarian State Award for the Arts:hu:Balázs Béla-díj#1963 1965 - The 'SZOT' Hungarian State Award:hu:SZOT-díj#1965 1973 - Distinguished Artist, Hungarian State Award:hu:Magyarország Érdemes Muvésze díj#1973 1979 - Award of The International Olympic Committee 1980 - Outstanding Artist, Hungarian State Award:hu:Magyarország Kiváló Muvésze díj#1980 2007 - 'Righteous Among the Nations', awarded by the Commission for Designation of the Righteous of the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority (Yom HaShoah), Jerusalem, Israel Film and Cinematic Festival awards won by Kolonits included Paris, Moscow, Oberhausen, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Mexico City, Budapest and Miskolc .
Selected filmography
Flowering Life Replacing The Ruins (Romok helyen viragzo elet) 1949The British Film Institute, Archives () They Need Peace (Nekik béke kell), 1952 - Winner of the 1954 Children's Film Festival, Paris, France Matyasföld, (Matyásföld), 1953 Before the Decision (Választas elött...) 1953 Budapest, 1953 In the Land of 'Matyo', 1953 Budapest Industrial Expo (Budapesti Helyipari Vásár), 1955 A Journey In Szabolcs (Utazás Szabolcsban), 1955 Birthday (Születésnap), 1955 On The Embankment Of The Sajo River (Sajoparti Történet), 1955 Six Boys, Six Buses (Hat fiu, hat busz), 1956 Change of Programme (Müsorváltozás), 1957 Ez It Happened (Így törtent), 1957 Talking Fruits (Beszélö gyümölcsök), 1957 Nowhere Else Apart From Here (A nagyvilágon e kivul), 1957 May I? (Szabad?), 1958 We Will Meet In Vienna (Bécsben találkozunk), 1959 The Last Curtain (Az utolso felvonás), 1959 Bridges, Embankments, People, (Hidak, partok emberek)1960 History Lesson For Boys (Törtenelmi lecke fiuknak), 1960 April Greetings (Áprilisi köszöntö),1960 In the Footsteps Of Childhood (Gyermekévek nyomában) 1961 Two Harvests in Markaz (Két szuret Markazon) 1961 Off To Baghdad (Irány Bagdad), 1961 Festival In Helsinki (Fesztival Helszinkiben) 1962 Minutes Observed (Ellesett percek) 1962 - Winner of the 3rd Hungarian Short Film Biennale, Budapest The 'Puszta' in Winter (A Puszta télen) 1963 The Last Stop (Végállomas) 1964 Thoughts About A Street's Name (Gondolatok egy utca névhez) 1964 Seasons, Masters, Artworks (Evszakok, mesterek, muvek) 1964 Five Times a Week (Hetenkent ötször) 1965 - 1st Prize of Silver Javelin OTSH Film Festival, Budapest, 1965 ,1st Prize of the Italian Film Production Companies, Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1966, CIDALC Award, Grenoble, 1968 Chanson (Sanzon) 1966 Red Signs On The Path of War (Vörös jelek a hadak utján) 1966 - Russian Historical State Award