time, he made reports about classmates and teachers at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest. According to historian István Deák, just a tip-off Szabó had made, had a negative influence on someone, when an individual was denied a passport. After the article had been published, over one hundred prominent intellectuals, including some of those whom Szabó had made reports about, signed a supporting letter to stand up for him. Szabó's initial rection to the article was that his cooperation with the communist secret service was coerced and might be regarded as an act of bravery since he intended to save the life of his former classmate Pál Gábor. A 2010 publication asserted that "whether this is true or not is impossible to prove as not much has remained of Szabó's file and as revelations about the murky past of prominent figures such as Sazbó have become mired in controversy." In a 2001 interview, Szabó revealed that he believes in God, but considers the subject personal and does not like to talk about it. Career Pre–1964 As a child, Szabó wanted to be a doctor like his father. By the age of 16, however, he developed an interest in filmmaking under the influence of a book written by Hungarian film theorist Béla Balázs. After finishing high school, he was one of 11 applicants out of 800, who were admitted to the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest, where he studied under Félix Máriássy. His classmates included Judit Elek, Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács, János Rózsa, Pál Gábor, Imre Gyöngyössy, Ferenc Kardos, and Zoltán Huszárik among others. During this period, Szabó directed several short films, most notably his thesis film, Koncert (1963). The film earned a prize at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. Afterwards he was apprenticed to CEO of the Hunnia Film Studio, János Herskó, which opened up the opportunity for him to direct his first feature film at the age of 25 rather than spending ten years working as an assistant director as would have required. István Szabó started out his career at the time when the “new wave” in Hungarian cinema got underway [at a time when the phenomenon was taking place in the film industry all over Western and Eastern Europe]. The new wave in Eastern Europe began against a backdrop of political liberalization, the decentralization of film industries, and the emergence of films as valuable commodities