Archive of films Guest of Life – Alexander Csoma de Körös / Az élet vendége – Csoma legendárium

Hungary
2006, 79 min

Section: 2008: A Musical Odyssey
Year: 2008

An ambient film which sets off up into the Himalayas on the trail of Hungarian scholar Csoma, who compiled the first dictionary of the Tibetan language. In his mysterious, witty and Zen-inspired open form, filmmaker Tibor Szemzö (known chiefly as an eclectic musician) incorporates Asian music, 8mm footage and animation.

Synopsis

“The life of Alexander Csoma de Körös has occupied my mind for many years,” says musician and filmmaker Tibor Szemzö. On his trip to the Himalayas he found the places where this Hungarian linguist and philologist developed his theories and compiled the first dictionary and grammar of the Tibetan language. Szemzö abandoned his original intention to film a “normal” portrait, instead incorporating Asian music, 8mm footage and animation into his mysterious, witty, Zen-inspired open form. He thus points to the various aspects to be considered when examining Alexander Csoma, in Hungary still revered as the son of the nation. Tibor Szemzö is known chiefly as a musician and sound artist, skills which come to the fore in his highly original soundtrack to the documentary series Private Hungary. The film A Guest of Life – Alexander Csoma de Körös is similarly multi-stratified, enigmatic and free-flowing like ambient sound landscapes. The project will be presented in its live multimedia stage version in 2008.

About the director

Tibor Szemzö (b. 1955, Budapest), a graduate of Budapest’s Music Academy, has been a familiar figure since the late 1970s primarily as a composer and performer of experimental and ambient music. He has been focusing more on film in recent years. Albums of his music are published by the London label Leo Records, one of which was released in Czechoslovakia. He was involved as a composer and sound designer in the series Private Hungary, in which filmmaker Péter Forgács incorporated personal and family home movies made during the 20th century. Szemzö created the short films Skullbase Fracture (1985), Cuba (1993), The Other Shore (1998) and What There Is (2005). A Guest of Life – Alexander Csoma de Körös is his first feature-length film.

Contacts

National Film Institute Hungary
Róna utca 174., 1145, Budapest
Hungary
Tel: +36 30 4414465, +36 146 113 20
www: www.nfi.hu

A Guest of Life – Alexander Csoma de Körös

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	2008: A Musical Odyssey

Director:	Tibor Szemzö
Screenplay:	László Sári
Dir. of Photography:	István “Taikyo” Szaladják
Music:	Tibor Szemzö
Editor:	Teri Losonci
Producer:	György Durst
Production:	Mediawave 2000
Contact:	National Film Institute Hungary

www:	www.csomafilm.hu

Guests

Annamária Basa

Gyorgy Durst

Producer, Producer