'I was a humble filmmaker'

Dr. LÁSZLÓ KESZI KOVÁCS



[[====_img:programok/keszi_kovacs_laszlo.jpg_====]]

Originally trained as a painter, he learnt pictorial vision and the role of colours, lights and shades in visual representation under masters such as Béla Iványi-Grünwald, Oszkár Glath and Gyula Rudnay. He first came in contact with films in 1932 in the Museum of Ethnography during dr. Sándor Gönyey's shoots of folk dance and folk customs. At that time, Gönyey was using a 16 mm Ceyston camera. In 1936, a French crew was shooting a film called Bujba Taras on the Hortbágy where Keszi Kovács helped organise and move extras. It was also at this time that the film A kormoló was being shot, also on the Hortobágy, where he learnt the tricks of camera work from Georg Hölering, in charge of camera work for this film. In 1937 he received a grant to go to Finland where ethnographic film-making had solid traditions going back as far as 1900, resulting in a good collection of such footage. Indeed, from 1936 onwards 'Ethnographic Film Inc.' also began to function created by scholars using donations from the audience. According to the Finnish way of working, a professional ethnographer would compile a so-called 'material script' which was followed by a thorough exploration of the locations and this would lead to compiling the 'shoot script', meaning the order of cutting and editing the film. Thus, the final film always developed as an 'extract' from a very long process of work and from the cycle of the custom at hand. This extract, however, was always one which recorded all the essential elements. By 1937 Finnish ethnographic film-making was using a normal Döbri and a 16 mm Paillard-Bolex camera, while the sound was produced on an equipment called Telefunken.

László Keszi Kovács spent two years in the North. During that time he participated in the film and sound production of Finnish and Estonian ethnographic films, learning the methods used there and all the tricks of the technical operations and the camera work.

After returning home, in 1939 he was appointed to a tenured job at the Museum of Ethnography. He partly organised the Ethnographic Data Base and partly carried on making ethnographic documentaries in conjunction with Gönyey (using their own finances). As an assistant lecturer to István Györffy, he lectured on the methodology and significance of ethnographic data base and film and sound recording. In 1940, he was appointed as a lecturer to the relevant institute of Kolozsvár University and became head of the Department of Ethnography of the Transylvanian Academic Institute. His first job was to translate into practice what he had learnt in Finland. He equipped his institute with a Paillard-Bolex camera and projector and a Telefunk sound editing equipment. He also acquired a 9 1/2 mm Pathée camera to enable students to start shooting (Miklós Jancsó was also among his students, studying and recording rural life styles). After 1944 he worked at the Pál Teleki Academic Institute, the Institute of Ethnography, then from 1949 onwards as an independent researcher employed by the Academy and working at the Ethnographic Institute of Loránd Eötvös University.

After 1945 he carried on using the Bolex camera and the Telefunken editing equipment that he had rescued throughout the war, then in 1947 he added to this a wire-based Wirwey sound recorded purchased for HUF 11,000, mostly shooting folk dance and folk customs, as well as farming techniques. In 1948 he acted as expert for the film Talpalatnyi fold also in charge of choosing locations. He was involved in selecting, training and arranging extras. From this time on he frequently gave consultancy on films with a folklore or rural aspect and even more frequently acted as a jury member appraising cultural and educational films or at amateur film festivals.

He repeatedly figured as professional expert at ethnographic film shoots for directors Viince Lakatos, József Kis and others.

As opportunities arose, he did all in his power to carry on creating ethnographic documentaries. He recorded folk customs and folk dance cycles. The famous dance cycle Ecseri lakodalmas (the wedding dance of Ecser) was also staged by Miklós Rábai based on his recordings and professional advice. Ethnographic film making is a costly mission, and there are few experts blessed with the kind of 'pictorial eye' who are able to represent appropriately the complex work, customs and entire lifestyle of the people. It is pointless for the sighted to talk to the blind about forms, colours, structures, work processes, movement or the aesthetic of folk costumes. Money sticks to the hands of people who believe that language and the printed word can do anything. This is how 'imageless ethnographic lectures and writing' manage to thrive in this country.

László Keszi-Kovács nevertheless remains a diligent spokesman and cultivator of the cause and practice of ethnographic film-making.