Kornél Mundruczó

Kornél Mundruczó was born in Hungary in 1975. He studied at the Hungarian University of Film and Drama and is now a renowned European film-director, whose films premier at the most prestigious festivals all over the world. He directed his short film “Afta” shortly after leaving school. It went on to win numerous international awards. “Pleasant Days”, his first feature film, was awarded the Silver Leopard in Locarno in 2002 for best first and second feature. He entered in the Cannes Residence in 2003. His second feature film, “Johanna” –an operatic adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc- was presented in the Un Certain Regard in 2005. His third feature film, “Delta" won the Fipresci Critics' Award in Cannes 2008. And his fourth, Tender Son was shown in the Official Selection of Cannes 2010. His latest film “White God” won the Un Certain Regard Prize of Cannes 2014.

He has been working for the stage for some years now, with Krétakör Theatre, National Theatre of Hungary, Thalia Theater Hamburg, Schauspiel Hannover and TR Warsawa among others, but basically whenever he finds a topic, a group or a venue which inspires him. During the working process he tries to build a team and often ends up inviting some of the same actors, who become creative partners. It is with them that he devises the productions. After freelancing with more or less the same group of people for several years, in 2009 he founded his independent theatre company, Proton Theatre together with Dóra Büki. The ensemble has currently six performances on repertoire: “The Ice” by Vladimir Sorokin; “Frankenstein-Project”, which has been touring extensively for some years now, from Strasbourg through Wiesbaden to Nitra, Paris, Cracow, Brussels, Vienna, Ljubljana, Vilnius, Riga, Rotterdam, Karlsruhe, Belgrade, Seoul, Santarcangelo and Berlin; “Hard To Be A God”, which is an international co-production of the following festivals: Alkantara Festival, Lisbon, Portugal; Baltoscandal, Rakvere, Estonia; Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal; KunstenFestivalDesArts, Brussels, Belgium; Rotterdamse Schouwburg, The Netherlands; Theater der Welt 2010, Essen, Germany; Théâtre National de Bordeaux, France and Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest, Hungary; “Disgrace” by J.M. Coetzee is an international co-production of Wiener Festwochen, Festival d’Avignon, KunstenFestivalDesArts, Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Malta Festival, Hebbel am Ufer and Romaeuropa Festival and “Dementia”. The latest performance of the company, “Last” directed by Roland Rába has premiered in autumn 2014.