Istvan Szabo conferred with Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award

Guwahati: Noted Hungarian Filmmaker Istvan Szabo has been conferred the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award by the 52^nd International Film Festival of India, at the opening ceremony held in Goa on Saturday.

Termed as 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.”

Satyajit Ray is considered as one of the pioneers of the modern cinema and he is revered by cine-buffs across the world. His works like The Apu Trilogy and The Music Room cemented his footing in the history of Indian cinema and remain classics till date.

Satyajit Ray was ray in the world of cinema which lights up a million minds and a billion cinematic ideas even today. As we celebrate 75 years of India’s independence and 100 years of the legendary filmmaker, it has been decided that IFFI’s Lifetime Achievement Award will henceforth be called the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award.