Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS
"No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos" to Air Nationally on the PBS Series Independent Lens on Thursday, November 17, 2009
By Staff
posted Aug 25, 2009, 11:33
A Fascinating Road-Trip through American Cinema, Told by the Cinematographers
Who Defined a Generation of Filmmaking
A Fascinating Road-Trip through American Cinema, Told by the Cinematographers
Who Defined a Generation of Filmmaking
(San Francisco, CA) "No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos" follows
the lives of renowned cinematographers Laszlo Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond
from escaping the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary to present day. An Official
Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, James Chressanthis’ "No Subtitles
Necessary" will air nationally on the Emmy and Peabody Award winning PBS
series Independent Lens on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 10PM (check local listings.)
As film students in Hungary, Laszlo and Vilmos took to the war-torn streets
of Budapest to shoot footage of the Russian invasion, and subsequently volunteered
to smuggle it out of the country. Barely escaping with their lives, the two
friends fled to America and settled in Hollywood, eventually saving enough money
to buy their own 16mm camera.
After working on a string of low-budget horror and biker movies, both men soon
rose to prominence in the late 60's and 70's, shooting the films that defined
what came to be known as the American New Wave: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces,
McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Deliverance, Paper Moon, Close Encounters of the Third
Kind, and more. Working with directors including Robert Altman, Bob Rafelson,
Peter Bogdanovich, and Martin Scorsese, they helped create a new American film
aesthetic, and pioneered innovative, fearless ways to tell stories.
“When it comes to Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond, it's clear that
the American New Wave of the late 1960's and early '70s wouldn't have flowered
as it did without them." – Leonard Maltin
Told through interviews with Laszlo (who died in 2007) and Vilmos, as well
as directors including Rafelson, Bogdanovich, John Boorman, Graeme Clifford,
Richard Donner, William Richert, Mark Rydell, composer John Williams and actors
such as Jon Voight, Peter Fonda, Sandra Bullock, Karen Black, Dennis Hopper
and Sharon Stone, "No Subtitles Necessary" is an intimate portrait
of two giants of modern imagemaking and their deep bond of brotherhood that
transcended every imaginable boundary. Two heroes. One road.
To learn more about the film, visit the "No Subtitles Necessary"
interactive companion website (pbs.org/nosubtitlesnecessary)
which features detailed information on the film, including an interview with
the filmmaker and links and resources pertaining to the film’s subject
matter. The site also features a Talkback section for viewers to share their
ideas and opinions, preview clips of the film, and more.
The Participants, in Alphabetical Order
Karen Black
Peter Bogdanovich
John Boorman
Sandra Bullock
Graeme Clifford
Allen Daviau, ASC
Richard Donner
Bob Fisher
Peter Fonda
Dennis Hopper
Audrey Kovács
Julianna Kovács
Nadia Kovács
Ellen Kuras, ASC
Leonard Maltin
Todd McCarthy
Rob McLachlan, ASC
Rachel Miner
Tatum O’Neal
Larry Parker
Steven Poster, ASC
Dan Pritzker
Bob Rafelson
William Richert
Owen Roizman, ASC
Mark Rydell
Crayton Smith
Peter Sorel
Ray Dennis Steckler
Sharon Stone
Vittorio Storaro, AIC, ASC
Jon Voight
Haskell Wexler
John Williams
Irwin Winkler
Susan Roether-Zsigmond
About the Filmmakers
James Chressanthis (Director/Producer)
James Chressanthis, ASC, is a cinematographer who has earned a diverse range
of nearly 40 credits since the early 1990s, including documentaries, independent
features, television movies and episodic series. He shot the Emmy®-nominated
Four Minutes and Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows and additional photography
on the Oscar®-winning Chicago. He studied cinematography at American Film
Institute and began his career shooting nearly 100 break-through music videos
with such artists as Bobby McFerrin, James Brown, Hammer, NWA and Dr. Dre. Since
2005, Chressanthis has been a director and cinematographer of the popular dramatic
series Ghost Whisperer. He recently completed the Renée Zellweger produced
film Living Proof, starring Harry Connick Jr. "No Subtitles Necessary"
is his feature film directing debut.
Kian Soleimanpour (Producer)
Kian Soleimanpour is a producer, media attorney and principal and founding
member of NC Motion Pictures, LLC. "No Subtitles Necessary" is Soleimanpour’s
debut as a feature filmmaker and producer. He has also been practicing law for
over eight years and is currently legal counsel at Qualcomm’s mobile TV
division, FLO TV.
Zachary Kranzler (Producer)
Over the course of his 12 year professional career, Mr. Kranzler has honed
his creative and technical skills as a technical media consultant, and a filmmaker
in front of, and behind, the camera. As a consultant, his clients included Apple
Computer, Inc., The Hallmark Channel, and Reality Check Studios. With his move
behind the camera, Kranzler has written, produced and/or directed several commercials
and music videos. His first foray into the feature world is "No Subtitles
Necessary".
Other key members of the production team and crew include Producer Tony Frere,
Executive Producers Jimmy Conroy and Dr. David Kaminsky, Co-Executive Producer
Art Monterastelli, Editor and Co-Producer Elisa Bonora and Cinematographer Anka
Malatynska.
About Laszlo Kovács, ASC
Laszlo Kovács’ breakthrough came with the Academy Award-nominated
1969 film Easy Rider, starring and directed by Dennis Hopper. In 1970, he again
worked with Hopper on the film The Last Movie. That same year, Kovács
filmed the Academy Award-nominated film Five Easy Pieces. Kovács served
as cinematographer on more than 70 motion pictures. Among these were six films
for Peter Bogdanovich (Targets, What's Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, At Long Last Love,
Nickelodeon, Mask and For Pete's Sake), Shampoo, New York, New York, Ghostbusters,
Say Anything, Radio Flyer, My Best Friend's Wedding, and Miss Congeniality.
He also did additional photography on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and
The Last Waltz.
About Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC
Vilmos Zsigmond gained prominence during the 1970’s working on Robert
Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller and The Long Goodbye and Steven Spielberg's
The Sugarland Express and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the latter of
which won him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Zsigmond has worked
with Brian De Palma on Obsession, Blow Out, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and
The Black Dahlia; with Michael Cimino on The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate;
with Richard Donner on Maverick and Assassins, and with Woody Allen on Melinda
and Melinda and Cassandra's Dream and the Untitled Woody Allen 2009 Film Project.
About Independent Lens
Independent Lens is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series airing Tuesday
nights at 10:00 PM on PBS. The acclaimed anthology series features documentaries
and a limited number of fiction films united by the creative freedom, artistic
achievement and unflinching visions of their independent producers. Independent
Lens features unforgettable stories about a unique individual, community or
moment in history. Presented by ITVS, the series is supported by interactive
companion websites and national publicity and community engagement campaigns.
Further information about the series is available at www.pbs.org/independentlens.
Independent Lens is jointly curated by ITVS and PBS, and is funded by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private corporation funded by the American
people, with additional funding provided by PBS and the National Endowment for
the Arts. The series producer is Lois Vossen.
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