Curriculum Vitae
Peter Forgacs (1950) is a media artist and independent filmmaker based in Budapest, whose works have been exhibited world wide. Since 1978 he has made more than thirty films. He is best known for his "Private Hungary" series of award winning films based on home movies from the 1920s and 1980s, which document ordinary lives that were soon to be ruptured by an extraordinary historical trauma that occurs off screen.
Biography
Forgács begun his studies at the Hungarian Academy of Art in 1971 but was dismissed from the course in the same year. Started to exhibit photo, graphics and performance in the Budapest undergrund art sceene by 1976. As independent film maker Forgacs worked - from 1978 - at the Béla Balázs Film Studio, Budapest; meanwhile, as recitativo (1978-1986) he worked in the contemporary music ensemble ‘Group 180’ (180-as Csoport). Since the early 1990s his video installations have been presented at museums and art galleries throughout Europe and America. Péter Forgács has created more than thirty videos, films, the best-known of which is the prize-winning series “Private Hungary”. He often re-uses amateur films in his works (from the 1920s until the 1980s period). Forgács first gained international recognition with The Bartos Family film in 1988 at the World Wide Video Festival -The Hague. As a mark of the esteem in which his work as an artist is held across the world, in 2007 he was awarded the Erasmus Prize by the Dutch Praemium Erasmianum Foundation.
Awards
| 2008 | I am Von Höfler • Creative Documentary Film Grand Prize |
| Hungarian Film Week • Budapest |
| 2008 | Own Death • Best Experimental Film Prize |
| Hungarian Film Week • Budapest |
| 2007 | Miss Universe 1929 • Special Mention |
| Hungarian Film Week • Budapest |
| 2007 | • Erasmus Prize |
| Praemium Erasmianum Foundation, Amsterdam |
| 2006 | El Perro Negro • Documantary Grand Prize |
| Hungarian Film Week, Budapest |
| 2005 | El Perro Negro • The Maysles Brothers Documentary Grand Prize |
| Denver International Film Festival |
| 2005 | El Perro Negro • Feature Length Documentary Film Award |
| Tribeca International Film Festival, New York |
| 2002 | A Bibó Reader • Best Director PRIZE of SHORT & EXPERIMENTAL FILM |
| 33rd Hungarian Film Festival, Budapest |
| 2001 | Angelos' Film • Best Music and Soud Track Special Award |
| One World Film Festival, Prague |
| 2000 | Angelos' Film • Golden Gate Award - The Golden Spire |
| San Francisco International Film Festival |
| 2000 | Angelos' Film • The Golden Spire |
| San Francisco International Film Festival |
| 2000 | Angelos' Film • Documentário Longa Grand Prize |
| XI Encotros Internacionalis De Cinema Documental, Portugal |
| 2000 | The Maelstrom • Grand Prize |
| Out Of That Darkness” International Film Festival, London |
| 1999 | Free Fall • Best Film Music Prize |
| Hungarian Film Critics Prize, Budapest |
| 1999 | Free Fall • The Best Documentary Fiction Prize |
| Hungarian Film Critics Prize, Budapest |
| 1999 | The Danube Exodus • Fipresci Prize |
| Krakow International Documentary Film Festival |
| 1999 | The Danube Exodus • The Silver Dragon Prize |
| Krakow International Documentary Film Festival |
| 1999 | The Danube Exodus • Documentary Grand Prize |
| Hungarian Film Week • Budapest |
| 1999 | The Maelstrom • The MAYOR'S Jewish Experience Prize |
| Jerusalem International Film Festival, Israel |
| 1997 | Free Fall • Short & Experimental Film Grand Prize |
| Hungarian Film Week • Budapest |
| 1997 | Free Fall • Fipresci Prize |
| Leipzig International Film Festival, Germany |
| 1997 | Free Fall • Television Programme of the Year |
| Prix Europa |
| 1997 | Free Fall • Grand Prix |
| International Documentary Film Festival of Marseilles |
| 1997 | Free Fall • CNC “Image de la culture” Special Award |
| International Documentary Film oFestival f Marseilles |
| 1995 | Meanwhile Somewhere ... 1940-1943 • "Lattücht" Prize Dokument |
| RT 95 Festival, Neubrandenburg, Germany |
| 1994 | Wittgeinstein Tractatus • Grand Prize |
| Montecattini, Terme, Italy |
| 1993 | Márai Herbal • 2nd Prize |
| Berlin Sport and Young Film Festival, Germany |
| 1993 | Wittgeinstein Tractatus • Les Beaux Jours Prix |
| International Film & Video Festival, Strasbourg |
| 1993 | Wittgeinstein Tractatus • Video Grand Prix |
| VIPER Film & Video Festival, Lucerne |
| 1993 | Wittgeinstein Tractatus • Grand Prix |
| Sound Base Arts Video Festival, Wroclaw |
| 1991 | Dusi & Jenġ • Grand Prize “vue sur la doc” |
| 2nd "European Documentary Film Biennial", Marseilles |
| 1990 | The Bartos Family • Grand Prize |
| World Wide Video Festival, The Hague, Holland |
Works in Public Collections
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Ludwig Museum LUMU, Budapest
Samlung Oppenheim, Bonn
Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley CA USA
MOMA, Film and Video collection, New York
Nederland Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
Centre Pompidou & Musé d'Art Moderne, Paris
Zentrum für Medien Kunst, ZKM collection, Karlsruh
Haus der Dokumentarfilm collection, Stuttgart
Center National du Cinematographie, Paris
KIASMA Contemporary Art Museum, Helsinki
Open Society Archive, CEU, Budapest
C3 Media Art Center, Budapest
The Getty Museum, Special Collection, Los Angeles
USC Film School - Annenberg Center for Communications, Los Angeles
Stanford University Library, Green Library, USA
Moffitt Library UC Berkeley, CA USA
Harvard College Library, Cambridge MA USA
New York University, Bobst Library NYU N.Y. USA
Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI) CINEMEDIA, Melbourne
P. F. Three DVD, Ministry of Education, Hungary
Bobst Library New York University N.Y. USA
UIAH Helsinki University Art Department collection
Yad Vashem, The Visual Center, Jerusalem
Montreal Cinematheque, Permanent Collection
Yale Film Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, 20th century Collection, Budapest
Ludwig Museum LUMU, Budapest
Samlung Oppenheim, Bonn
Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley CA USA
MOMA, Film and Video collection, New York
Nederland Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
Centre Pompidou & Musé d'Art Moderne, Paris
Zentrum für Medien Kunst, ZKM collection, Karlsruh
Haus der Dokumentarfilm collection, Stuttgart
Center National du Cinematographie, Paris
KIASMA Contemporary Art Museum, Helsinki
Open Society Archive, CEU, Budapest
C3 Media Art Center, Budapest
The Getty Museum, Special Collection, Los Angeles
USC Film School - Annenberg Center for Communications, Los Angeles
Stanford University Library, Green Library, USA
Moffitt Library UC Berkeley, CA USA
Harvard College Library, Cambridge MA USA
New York University, Bobst Library NYU N.Y. USA
Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI) CINEMEDIA, Melbourne
P. F. Three DVD, Ministry of Education, Hungary
Bobst Library New York University N.Y. USA
UIAH Helsinki University Art Department collection
Yad Vashem, The Visual Center, Jerusalem
Montreal Cinematheque, Permanent Collection
Yale Film Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, 20th century Collection, Budapest
Scholarship
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Lectures
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