Kornél Mundruczó
Introduction '''Kornél Mundruczó''' (; born 3 April 1975) is a Hungarian film and theatre director. He has directed 18 short and feature films between 1998 and 2020.His film ''Johanna'' was screened in the  section of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The production of ''White God'', another of his full-length films, was supported by the Hungarian Film Fund. It won the Prize  at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was screened in the Spotlight section of Sundance Film Festival in 2015.
Early life Mundruczó earned a diploma from Hungary's Academy of Film and Drama in 1998 as an actor, then in 2003 as a film and television director. In that same year, he founded Proton Cinema Ltd., dedicated to film production, along with Viktória Petrányi, a constant co-creator and collaborator in his work and writing since the academy.
Career ===Film===Mundruczó's first full-length feature ''This I wish and nothing more'' won, among other prizes, the award for best first film at the 31st Hungarian Film Week, as well as its Students’ Jury and Directors’ Guild Awards. He directed his short film ''Afta'' shortly after leaving school. It went on to win numerous international awards. ''Pleasant Days'', his second feature film, was awarded the Silver Leopard in Locarno in 2002.In 2003, he won the Cinéfondation Program's artistic grant, within the framework of the Cannes International Film Festival, where he developed the screenplay of the film ''Delta'', together with Yvette Bíró in Paris.He has been a member of the European Film Academy since 2004.In 2005, he won the Nipkow Program's artistic grant to participate for three months in courses and consultations for talented screenwriters and directors in Berlin. His fourth, fifth, and seventh feature-length films were entered in the official competition of Cannes Film Festival: ''Delta'' in 2008, ''Tender Son'' in 2010 and ''Jupiter's Moon'' in 2017.The first won the FIPRESCI Award.In 2014, his film, ''White God'' – which was invited to Cannes Film Festival and made with the support of Eurimages, the European Council's film foundation and the Hungarian National Film Foundation – won the main prize of the Un Certain Regard program at the 67th Cannes Film Festival. Also, the film's canine star won the Palm Dog Award for best performance by a dog. His first English-language feature, ''Pieces of a Woman'', was in Competition at 77th Venice International Film Festival.In 2021, his film ''Evolution'' premiered in the new section of 2021 Cannes Film Festival, called Cannes Premiere, designed to give returning Cannes auteurs a safe place to screen new work outside of the competition.===Theatre===Mundruczó has worked in theatre and opera since 2003, first in Hungary and then in theatres abroad such as the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the TR Warszawa, the Schauspielhaus Zürich and the Vlaamse Opera. He is most keen to begin new projects where he finds the subject, collaborators and venue inspiring. During the creative process, he strives to create a team. For new projects, he very often casts the same actors, who work with him as creative partners. After freelancing with more or less the same group of people for several years, in 2009, he founded Proton Theatre, his independent theatre company, with producer Dóra Büki.Proton Theatre is a virtual artistic company organised around the director's independent productions. Besides preserving maximum artistic freedom, their goal is to ensure a professional structure for their independently produced theatre plays and projects. Chiefly, their performances are realized as international co-productions, and their frequent collaborators include the Wiener Festwochen, HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin, Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, Trafó House of Contemporary Arts in Budapest and Hellerau in Dresden. Productions directed by the artistic leader include ''The Ice'' (2006); ''Frankenstein-project'' (2007), which inspired his later film ''Tender Son''; ''Hard to be a God'' (2010); ''Disgrace'' (2012), based on the post-apartheid novel by Nobel Prize-winner J. M. Coetzee and, in turn, inspiring his film ''White God''; ''Dementia'' (2014), ''Winterreise'' (2015), ''Imitation of Life'' (2016), ''The Raft of the Medusa'' (2018), ''Evolution'' (2019) inspiring his film with the same title and ''The Seven Deadly Sins/Motherland'' (2020). In addition, Proton wishes to provide space for the realisation of company members’ ideas. In this spirit, they created the following performances: ''Last'' (2014), directed by Roland Rába; ''1 link'' (2015), directed by Gergely Bánki and ''Finding Quincy'' by János Szemenyei.Proton's performances have toured to more than 110 festivals until 2020, including the Festival d’Avignon, the Adelaide Festival, the Singapore International Festival, the Seoul Bo:m Festival, and the Zürcher Theater Spektakel. In 2017, for ''Imitation of life'', Mundruczó was nominated for the Faust Award. It was the first time in the history of this award that a non-German theatre, in this case a Hungarian independent company was nominated.
Filmography Year Film Genre/type Notes 2000  ''This I Wish and Nothing More''  feature (78 min.) *Best First Film – 31st Hungarian Film Festival 2000 *Best Film – Students’ Jury – 31st Hungarian Film Festival 2000 *Directors’ Guild Award for Best Direction*Best Film of the Year – Hungarian Film Critics’ Award 2001 2001  ''AFTA - Day after day''  short (25 min.) *ARTE European Short Award – Oberhausen International Short Film Festival 2001*Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Honorable Mention – Oberhausen International Short Film Festival 2001 2002  ''Pleasant Days''  feature (85 min.) *Silver Leopard for the first or second feature film – Locarno International Film Festival 2002 2002  ''Little Apocrypha no. 1''  short (5 min.) *Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Oberhausen International Short Film Festival 2003 2003  ''Joan of Arc on the Night Bus''  short opera (24 min.) *Director's Fortnight – Cannes Film Festival 2003 2004  ''Little Apocrypha no. 2''  short (15 min.) *Cinefondation Section – Cannes Film Festival 2004 2005  ''Lost and Found - Short Lasting Silence''  short (20 min.) 2005  ''Johanna''  feature (83 min.) *Un Certain Regard – Cannes Film Festival 2005 2008  ''Delta''  feature (92 min.) *FIPRESCI Award – Cannes Film Festival 2008 2010  ''Tender Son''  feature (105 min.) *Official Selection – Cannes Film Festival 2010 2014  ''White God''  feature (119 min.) *Un Certain Regard Prize – Cannes Film Festival 2014*Spotlight section – Sundance Film Festival 2015 2017  ''Jupiter's Moon''  feature (129 min.) *Official Selection – Cannes Film Festival 2017 2020  ''Pieces of a Woman''  feature (115 min.) *Official Selection – 77th Venice International Film Festival  2021  ''Evolution''  feature (97 min.) *
Theatre Year Title Theatre Notes 2020  ''The Seven Deadly Sins''/''Motherland''  Theater Freiburg, Germany; Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary  2019  ''Evolution''  Ruhrtriennale, Bochum, Germany; Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary  A performance lying on the boundary between the genres of concert and theatre 2019  ''Liliom''  Thalia Theater, Hamburg, Germany; Salzburger Festspiele, Austria  Suburban legend in seven scenes by Ferenc Molnár (1878–1952)  2018  ''Pieces of a Woman''  TR Warszawa, Poland  *Konrad Swinarski Award for the best director of the 2018/2019 season*Best performance – Boska Comedia Theatre Festival 2019.Krakow, Poland 2018  ''The Raft of the Medusa''  Ruhrtriennale, Bochum, Germany; Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary 2017  ''The Weavers''  Thalia Theatre Hamburg, Germany  A play written by the German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann in 1892 2016  ''Imitation of life''  Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary   *Audience Award – Baltic House Festival 2017.Saint Petersburg, Russia*Nominee for best direction: Kornél Mundruczó – Faust Award 2017.2015  ''Winterreise''  CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival; Danubia Orchestra Óbuda; Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary   2014  ''Hotel Lucky Hole'' – 3rd part of the suicide trilogy  Schauspielhaus Zürich, Switzerland   2013  ''Dementia'' – 2nd part of the suicide trilogy  Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary  *Critics’ Award – Baltic House Festival 2014.Saint Petersburg, Russia 2012  ''The Bat or my Little Cemetery'' – 1st part of the suicide trilogy  TR Warszawa, Poland  *Guarantees of Culture 2012 award in "theatre" category, Telewizja Polska, Poland*Grand Prix of the 53rd Kalisz Theatre Meetings for the actors 2013.Kalisz, Poland*Best performance – Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatralny "Boska Komedia" (Divine Comedy Festival) 2013.Krakow, Poland 2012  ''Disgrace''  Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary  *Best direction: Kornél Mundruczó – 13th National Theatre Festival 2013.Pécs, Hungary 2012  ''Pleasant Days''  Theater Oberhausen, Germany   2011  ''Betrothal in St. Domingo or my Sweet Haiti''  Staatstheater Hannover, Germany   2011  ''Time of the Possessed''  Thalia Theatre Hamburg, Germany   2010  ''Eszter Solymosi of Tiszaeszlár''  Staatstheater Hannover, Germany   2010  ''Hard to be a God''  Proton Theatre, Budapest, Hungary  *Price of the Federal Agency for Civic Education – 8th Politics in Independent Theatre; Staatsschauspiel Dresden 2011.Hellerau, Germany*International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) award – MESS International Theatre Festival 2012.Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina*MESS Forum "Luka Pavlović" Award by Theatre Critics and Journalists – MESS International Theatre Festival 2012.Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina*Special Mention of MESS Jury – MESS International Theatre Festival 2012.Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2009  ''Gospel of Judas''  Thalia Theatre Hamburg, Germany   2007  ''Frankenstein-project''  Bárka Theatre, Budapest, Hungary  *Best Performance – 8th National Theatre Festival 2008.Pécs, Hungary*Audience Award – 8th National Theatre Festival 2008.Pécs, Hungary*Special Prize of BITEF – 44th BITEF Festival 2010.Belgrade, Serbia 2006  ''The Ice''  Krétakör Company, Budapest, Hungary  *Best young creator: Kornél Mundruczó – XIX. Międzynarodowy International Theatre Festival "Kontakt" 2009.Toruń, Poland*Silver Laurel Wreath Award for Best Performance in the Mittel Europa category – MESS International Theatre Festival 2009.Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina*The Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble – MESS International Theatre Festival 2009.Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina*The Avaz Dragon Award – MESS International Theatre Festival 2009.Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina*Texture Name Prize – Texture Film and Theatre Festival 2010.Perm, Russia 2006  ''Caligula''  Radnóti Theatre, Budapest, Hungary   2005  ''Zérus - the poems of Sinead Morrissey''  Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest, Hungary   2004  ''Nibelung-Residency''  Krétakör Company, Budapest, Hungary  === Opera ===Year Title Theatre Notes 2022  ''Tannhäuser''  Staatsoper Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany  2016  ''The Makropulos Affair''  Vlaamse Opera, Antwerpen, Belgium *Nominee for best new production – International Opera Awards 2017 2014  ''Bluebeard's Castle / Winterreise''  Vlaamse Opera, Ghent, Belgium  An unconventional combination of two classical works. The sinister tale ''Bluebeard's Castle'' by Béla Bartók, which is shaped with astonishing orchestral strength, is juxtaposed with the intimate quietness of the piano notes and singing voice at the heart of Schubert's ''Winterreise''. 2009  ''Bluebeard's Castle''  Budapest Spring Festival, Hungary  2003  ''The Respectful Prostitute''  Budapest Autumn Festival, Hungary Kamilló Lendvay's one-act opera, based on Jean-Paul Sartre's drama
References
External links *  Proton Theatre* *