Page 28 - Fujifilm Exposure_40 Golden Compass_ok

FROM HUNGARY WITH LOVE
AN INTERVIEW WITH BALAZS BOLYGO
I t’s Pecs in Hungary, circa 1978, and a young boy plays amid the
plate negatives and dusty camera equipment in his grandfather’s attic. In his child’s mind, he imag- ines himself as a successful photog- rapher... only this particular day- dream isn’t destined to fade.
We return two decades later to find him in England, now a young man in his early thir- ties and a successful cinematographer.
“My grandfather was a photographer,” says Balazs Bolygo, whose work includes Hustle, Life On Mars and, in the pipeline, two big new BBC series, Mistresses and Lark Rise To Candleford.
“I always found that fascinating: having a good old rummage and looking at the stills. He was into glamorous Hollywood photogra- phy and I really loved the lighting in it. I got into stills and from there I drifted into film”
The Bolygo family came over to England, when Balazs was 10. “A year turned into two years then three years. It’s now been more than 20 years,” reflects Bolygo. “We always intended to go back but we settled so quickly. Me and my brother were in school - we’d repeated years that we missed over there - and then the political situation in Hungary changed quite drastically so we stayed.”
The Bolygo family did not need much adjustment to the idea of being British. “My parents love it here. They do go back to
Hungary for the odd holiday and want to retire there eventually, but I can’t see it happening in the near future.”
With the current success of Hungary’s film industry, multi-million pound facilities springing up including two large studios around Budapest, there must surely be a temp- tation to go back and reap the opportunities?
Bolygo is candid: “I’m probably the only British cameraman who hasn’t worked over there, even though I am Hungarian- born! I’d love to work there; however, my vocabulary is that of a 10-year-old kid. English is not my mother tongue, but it’s definitely now my first language.”
After flirting with Cambridge, Bolygo signed up instead at the London College of Printing where his three-year course was severely punctuated by assisting jobs in and around the film industry. Nevertheless, he still managed to secure a First.
So paving his way as a prodigy of a dif- ferent sort from his scientist father, Bolygo was accepted into the NFTS in his early twenties, and in 1997 had his first major brush with Fujifilm when the short he was lighting, The Wedding, was chosen for the Fujifilm Scholarship Awards.
Finally, on the cusp of leaving a long edu- cation to begin working in his chosen field, the next door opened when Angela M Murray came walking into the school looking for help.
continued on page 28
26 • Exposure • The Magazine • Fujifilm Motion Picture