The Hungarian cinematographer György Illés HSC has died last 12 of June with the age of 92. The well renowned cinematographer has shot around 70 films since 1949.

György was born in 1914 in Eger , Hungary . By that time Eger was still part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire that was dissolved at the end of the First Great War 1914-18.

György Illés HSC became a professor and a cinematographer in 1949. Many of the well known cinematographers today like Vilmos Zsigmond, Lajos Koltai and László Kovács amongst others were his pupils. György has received from the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers the life time recognition for his work in 2005 and in 2000 from the National Association of Journalists the life time achievement award.

See his filmography: http://www.cinematographers.nl/GreatDoPh/illes.htm

Article published at the Ministry of Culture Heritage website: June 12 2006.


 György Illés started his training at the Theatre and Film Academy in 1949. He first made newsreels, then he began to work in feature films, shooting more than 60 films until 1996.

He introduced a signature style with the films "It Happened in Europe ", "The House Under the Rocks" and "The Toth Family".

Illés is considered to have paved the way for such famous Hungarian cinematographers as László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond , who both established themselves in the US .

Chair of the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers János Kende called Illés "an extraordinary cinematographer," adding that "he was the innovating spirit of the 1960s and 1970s." He was at the forefront of Hungarian cinematography for several decades after the late 1940s and many of today's young cinematographers have learnt from him, Kende said.

György Illés was the honorary chair of the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers. He was twice the recipient of the Kossuth Prize, Hungary 's highest award for artists.»