Edit Köszegi lives and works in Hungary as a film director, dramaturge and screenwriter. Born in 1952 in Gyula, Hungary, she obtained a degree in library and adult education in 1975 from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, and then completed her studies in 1980 at MAFILM Screenwriting College. Between 1980 and 1990 she worked as a dramaturge at Hunnia Film Studio, where she wrote several of her scripts for feature films, including András Surányi’s Erosion, and Mozart and Salieri, Sándor Simó’s Goodbye My Friends and János Szász’s Dizziness. From 1988 she worked as a documentary film director at Hunnia Studio and Fórum Film Alapítvány (Forum Film Foundation), retaining a special focus on ethnical and subcultural traditions. Between 1990 and 1994 she was a dramaturge and a board member of Hétfői Műhely Studio.
Since 1992 she has been continuously producing documentaries about Roma people. Between 1992 and 2002 she was a researcher at the Museum of Ethnography, Budapest, documenting, archiving and managing the video library of the Roma collection. From 2000 to 2003 she was a lecturer at Eötvös Loránd University’s Department of Sociology, and between 2001 and 2004 she worked on making documentaries in Szendrőlád as the director of the Forum Film Foundation.
Kőszegi’s films explore themes of Roma identity, discrimination and heritage in Hungary, most often by presenting real stories of prohibited love, family connections, traditional trades and craftsmanship, and struggles with addictions and everyday life. She often collaborates with ethnographer Péter Szuhay. Her first feature film, Sitiprinc, was released in 2000.
She has won several awards, including the Camera Award of the Hungarian Association of Documentary Film Directors in 2002 for Stories of Success and Best Director Award at the 38th Hungarian Film Week in 2006 for Escape into Love. In 2012, a Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on her at the third international Romani Film Fest, and in 2014 she received the Béla Balázs Award in recognition of her achievements in cinematography.
Feature Films
2000
Sitiprinc – Hunnia, aired by Hír TV
Documentaries (director)
1988
Fény-képek gyermekeinknek
1994
Midőn a vér
1995
Jobban szeretnék élni
1996
Csövesek – csicskák – egy eset több olvasata
1996
Töredékek a térről
1998
Gyilkosság a téren
1999
Történetek a boldogulásról I-II.
2000
Kitagadottak
2001
Cigány kép - Roma kép
2002
Kései születés
2006
Menekülés a szerelembe
2007
A 11. Élet
2008
A három nővér
2010
Gumikalapács
2011
Romani Design
Screenwriter
1983
A csoda vége
1991
Erózió
1992
A nyaraló
1996
Franciska vasárnapjai
2000
Film…
2006
Kéz-keringő
2009
Megyejáró
Sources:
http://www.mediawavefestival.hu/index.php?modul=filmek&kod=7208
https://port.hu/adatlap/szemely/koszegi-edit/person-890
http://www.docuart.hu/docuart/hu/adatbazis/adat_szemely/205/dialektus
http://palantirfilm.hu/upload_files/szemelyek/dokumentumok/cv_198_2008.doc