Ferenc Rófusz, the animation filmmaker and creator of the first Oscar-winning Hungarian animation film (The Fly, 1981), recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival. We were honoured to have the opportunity to hear the director talk in detail about the special twists and turns of his career and the milestones of his work across continents after the award ceremony.
Is it true that your family has a special bond with Cardinal Péter Erdő?
My mother was the nanny of Péter Erdő for two years, and as luck should have it: when she grew old and she was in the retirement home of the Order of Malta, they met again. At a celebration in the small chapel of the home, the Cardinal celebrated Mass, and the two of them reminisced about old times.
Did your mother play an important role in your decision to start drawing?
She always supported my ideas, she said that if I believed in something, it would come true sooner or later. This is true for my film The Last Supper, which I had to wait 40 years to make because I had submitted the project in 1978, but it was rejected because of the religious theme. In hindsight, I think it’s better, because if I had been able to make it then, we would have had a much lower quality production with the technology of the time. Now, however, we have lived up to Leonardo’s painting a little. I know from this that if something doesn’t work, you shouldn’t press it, because no matter what I dream up, Someone from above will write into my script anyway…
In your script, which included filmmaking as well as drawing from a very early age?
There were four of us brothers. We played sports, as there was no television or computer at that time, and we didn’t sit isolated, glued to our phones either. My mother drew beautifully, she dyed scarves, she designed patterns on silk shawls, and she tie-dyed. She taught me too, because she saw my talent, paying for summer art camps, and drawing lessons. Animation wasn’t taught at any school back then yet, so through a friend I got into the Hungarian Film studio, Mafilm’s animation group, and set designers. Then in 1968, I was able to apply to the Pannonia Film Studio, where sixty of us applied, six were accepted and I got in. I started with the Gusztáv series, besides which we had other productions such as the Mézga Family and Dr. Bubo.
Hungaricum laude 