Judit Elek


Judit Elek was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. She directed sixteen films between 1962 and 2006. Her film Mária-nap was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.

Life and career

As a child, she survived the Second World War first in a sheltered house on Pozsonyi Street, Budapest, and then in the ghetto.
From 1956 to 1961, Elek studied at the University of [Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest], in the class of film director Félix Máriássy. Her classmates included Pál Gábor, Imre Gyöngyössy, Zoltán Huszárik, Ferenc Kardos, Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács, János Rózsa, Éva Singer and István Szabó.
During this time she was a founding member of the Balázs Béla Studio, a workshop for experimental film. In 1968, Elek made her first feature film, Sziget a szárazföldön. From the 1980s onwards, she made historical films such as The Trial of Martinovics and the Hungarian Jacobins. In the 1990s, she shot films with a Jewish theme like Tutajosok and To speak the Unspeakable: The Message of Elie Wiesel.
Elek was married to the Hungarian film director Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács. The cinematographer and producer Eli Laszlo Berger Eli Berger is their son, known for the films A hét nyolcadik napja, Bankster and Dreams Are an Excuse.
Elek died on 1 October 2025, at the age of 87.

Filmography

Elek wrote many screenplays and directed many films, mostly in Hungarian, including:
  • 1962, with Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács: Vásárcsarnok, short.
  • 1963: Találkozás / Találkozás-Apróhirdetés, short, 23 minutes.
  • 1966: Kastélyok lakói, short documentary, 27 minutes.
  • 1967: Meddig él az ember? I-II, documentary, 60 minutes.
  • 1969: Sziget a szárazföldön, Elek's feature film debut, 76 minutes.
  • 1970: Találkozunk 1972-ben / Sötétben-világosban, television documentary, 35 minutes.
  • 1974
  • * Egyszerű történet, documentary, 104 minutes.
  • * Az első fénykép, television documentary, 37 minutes.
  • 1975: Istenmezején 1972-73-ban, documentary, 78 minutes.
  • 1976: Árvácska, screenwriter.
  • 1980:
  • * Vizsgálat Martinovics Ignác szászvári apát és társainak ügyében, feature film, 127 minutes.
  • * Majd holnap, feature film, 104 minutes.
  • 1984: Mária-nap, feature film, 120 minutes.
  • 1990: Tutajosok, feature film, 147 minutes.
  • 1995: Ébredés, feature film, 110 minutes.
  • 1996
  • * Mondani a mondhatatlant: Elie Wiesel üzenete, documentary, 105 minutes. In Hungarian, English and French.
  • * Egy szabad ember – Fisch Ernő élete, documentary, 107 minutes.
  • 2006: A hét nyolcadik napja, feature film, 100 minutes.
  • 2009–2010: Visszatérés – Retrace, feature film, 86 minutes. In Hungarian, Romanian, and English.
  • 2018: És a halottak újra énekelnek, music documentary, 72 minutes. In Hebrew and Yiddish.

Awards

Publications

Her publications include:
  • with Kálmán Benda, Vizsgálat Martinovics Ignác szászvári apát és társai ügyében : filmforgatókönyv, eredeti iratok, Magvető, Budapest, 1983. Film scripts and documents for The Martinovics Case. In Hungarian.
  • with Zsuzsa Bíró, Gábor Halász and Mihály Sükösd, Tutajosok : filmforgatókönyv, Magvető, Budapest, 1990. Film script in Hungarian.

Controversy

For the purposes of the film Tutajosok 14 sheep were spread with a flammable substance, and then, at the order of Judit Elek, were burned alive. 69 scientists from the Jagiellonian University demanded that the authorities forbid Judit Elek entry to Poland. Scientists wrote among others: "No director knowing her own worth would debase herself for using so primitive and cruel methods".

Videos

  • . Video duration 4m 49 s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023.
  • . Video duration 1m 50s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023.
  • . Video duration 14m 4s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023.
  • . Video duration 2h 6m 25s. Fodor Tamás. Consulted 23 April 2023.