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 (The Lady from Constantinople). From the 1980s onwards, she made historical films such as The Trial of Martinovics and the Hungarian Jacobins (1980). In the 1990s, she shot films with a Jewish theme like Tutajosok (Memories of a River, 1990) and To speak the Unspeakable: The Message of Elie Wiesel (1996).
Elek was married to the Hungarian film director Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács (1936–2014). The cinematographer and producer Eli Laszlo Berger Eli Berger (László Berger, born in Budapest, 1970) is their son, known for the films A hét nyolcadik napja (The Eighth Day of the Week, 2006, directed by Judit Elek), Bankster (2016) and Dreams Are an Excuse (2023).[5]
Filmographyedit
Elek wrote many screenplays and directed many films, mostly in Hungarian, including:[1][6][7]
Mondani a mondhatatlant: Elie Wiesel üzenete (To Speak the Unspeakable: The Message of Elie Wiesel), documentary, 105 minutes. In Hungarian, English and French.
Egy szabad ember – Fisch Ernő élete (A Free Man – The Life of Ernő Fisch), documentary, 107 minutes.
2006: A hét nyolcadik napja (The Eighth Day of the Week), feature film, 100 minutes.
2009–2010: Visszatérés – Retrace, feature film, 86 minutes. In Hungarian, Romanian, and English.
2018: És a halottak újra énekelnek (After All the Dead Sing Again...), music documentary, 72 minutes. In Hebrew and Yiddish.
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.
Controversyedit
For the purposes of the film Tutajosok (1990) 14 sheep were spread with a flammable substance, and then, at the order of Judit Elek, were burned alive.[8] 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".[1][citation needed]
^"Un Certain Regard Opening film MARIA NAP Directed by : Judit ELEK Country : HUNGARY". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
^"Egy társadalom sokféleképpen tud ölni ? ELEK JUDIT". kultura.hu (in Hungarian). Petőfi Cultural Agency Nonprofit Zrt. Budapest. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2023. Interview in Hungarian with Elek about the film Visszatérés – Retrace.
^"A Balázs Béla Stúdió". filmkultura.hu (in Hungarian). Magyar Menzeti Filmarchivum (Hungarian National Film Archive). Retrieved 23 April 2023.
^"Elek Judit". filmunio.hu (in Hungarian). Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
^"IFFR 2024 24 Jan – 4 Feb. Focus: Judit Elek. Programme IFFR 2023". iffr.com. International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved 23 April 2023. The film durations in the Wikipedia article are those of the film versions at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023.
^ abHolden, Stephen (20 March 1992). "Tutajosok: Review/Film; To Be a Jew in 1880s Hungary". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
^""Elek, Judit"". worldcat.org. OCLC WorldCat. 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Judit Elek.
Találkozás (Elek Judit, 1963, részlet) on YouTube. Video duration 4m 49 s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is Encounter.)
Meddig él az ember (Elek Judit, 1968, részlet) on YouTube. Video duration 1m 50s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is How Long Does Man Live?.)
Sziget a szárazföldön (Elek Judit, 1969, részlet) on YouTube. Video duration 14m 4s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is The Lady from Constantinople.)
Elek Judit: Martinovics... 1980 on YouTube. Video duration 2h 6m 25s. Fodor Tamás. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is The Trial of Martinovics and the Hungarian Jacobins.)