She grew up in Budapest in a multi-generational family of intellectuals, in modest financial circumstances, but with lots of love. One can imagine how the closeness of a great-grandfather and a grandmother, through their history and family experiences, can be emotionally and spiritually rewarding for a growing child. Her parents – her father a Hungarian history teacher and school principal, her mother a teacher – were role models for her. She studied piano for years, preparing for a career in music. In the end, not confident that she would become a truly excellent pianist, she chose to study art history. The background to this decision was that, as they lived on Dózsa György út, she often visited the Museum of Fine Arts on Sundays.
Art historian
On her first attempt, she was accepted to the always very elite, highly oversubscribed Art History course and the Hungarian major at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and in 1964 she graduated with honours.
Soon after finishing her studies, she was employed at the Ferenczy Museum in Szentendre. At that time the art movement supported by cultural policy was still socialist realism. The easing of political repression in the arts was only to be expected in the second half of the 1960s, and even then, avant-garde artistic endeavours were more likely to appear outside the walls of official institutions, in private homes and clubs. It took a great deal of work and struggle to gain acceptance for sculptors and painters with a different approach to socialist realism to also organise exhibitions. This is how Pál Deim, Jenő Barcsay and Róbert Csíkszentmihályi came to have a collective exhibition at the end of the 1960s. In the meantime, she naturally kept publishing studies and articles on her eternal favourites – Imre Ámos, Barcsay, and others. It is noticeable that in her writings, behind the scientific aspects, there is always a great importance attributed to the human destiny behind the oeuvre.
In 1973 she opened a museum for the works of the ceramic artist Margit Kovács in Szentendre, and in 1978 the Szentendre collection of the oeuvre of Jenő Barcsay, the school-establishing master of Hungarian constructivist painting. Two monographs on Barcsay have been published (1974 and 1986, Corvina publishing house)
Her great professional success was the opportunity to make a television interview in 1974 with the world-famous art historian Károly Tolnay, director of the Casa Buonarroti (Michelangelo Museum) in Florence, who lives abroad. It was a kind of reward for her that when she made a ten-part film with Barna Kabay for the 2015 Milan World Exhibition, entitled Italian-Hungarian Heritage, one of the films was about Károly Tolnay. According to Tolnay, a good art historian must have talent, ethical security, a sense of vocation and expertise. Katalin Petényi followed this intention.
From 1971 to 1980, she taught art history at the School of Theatre and Film. Her Latin education and knowledge of English, Italian and French predestined her for this path. The essence of her teaching concept was always to seek analogies between film and the fine arts. She sought to impart a visual vision alongside the subject matter. Her students were primarily interested in the unity of composition, light and shadow, space and time. Her old students still remember her with affection and appreciation.
Superficially, her career may seem to have been split into two: she started as an art historian and continued as a filmmaker. But a closer look at her oeuvre shows that she never stopped seeing and thinking as an art historian. On the one hand, she has made many films about artists throughout her career, the most beautiful and most moving perhaps being about Imre Ámos – Imre Ámos, the painter of Apokalipszis (Apocalypse)1, who could be called the twin star of Miklós Radnóti, because of their common origins, his extraordinary talent and the fact that he worked until his death came under terrible circumstances. In her monograph, she reveals the full extent of Ámos’ art, his roots, his motifs from the religious world of the Hasidic Jews of Nagykálló, and followed the painter’s fate with deep empathy. And the more the painter’s faith was tested by the cruelty of history, the more he clung to this world of faith and ethics. Although Ámos, in what he himself aptly called surrealist expressionism, projected the horrors of war with visionary power, he remained to the last moment a pure man, terrified by violence, a man of pure faith in justice and humanity.
Attracted by cinema
Her attraction and connection to film art is obviously explained by the fact that in 1961, while still a student, she married film director Imre Gyöngyössy, who was sentenced to three years in prison on trumped-up charges of conspiracy at the age of twenty, and served the sentence. In 1961, she graduated from the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts as a film writer-director and immediately joined the newly established Béla Balázs Studio, a legendary workshop for young progressive filmmakers. Her scripts and films were decisive in the Hungarian cinema of the 1960s. It would have been strange if Katalin Petényi had not been fascinated by filmmaking, which was the leading art form in Hungary in those years.
A film manufactory
Since the 1970s, Katalin Petényi has worked in many different films, in many different “jobs”: consultant, scriptwriter, editor, director, editor – in other words, she is familiar with almost all areas of filmmaking. She was an artistic consultant on Imre Gyöngyössy’s second feature film, the gypsy-themed Meztelen vagy (You’re Naked), which was shot in the gypsy camp of Tarizsa. Here, Petényi’s eye immediately discovered the gypsy painter János Balázs, who would later go on to a European career, and she even incorporated his symbolic paintings into the film’s visuals.
Imre Gyöngyössy wrote thusly about his wife’s involvement in his films and their teamwork:
“...Katalin Petényi was with us as an inner creative partner in the miserable gypsy village near Miskolc, overstressed with the “world-forming” energy of the third world... Later, our joint productions with Barna Kabay were elevated to a more noble and objectifiable level by her aesthetically and morally seismographically sensitive, demanding visual culture, literary and fine arts education. Our first film together, the Hungarian-German co-production Két elhatározás (Two Decisions), met with real understanding and international recognition in both cultural circles.”2
Their biggest film success to date, the Oscar-nominated Jób lázadása (Job’s Rebellion) in the Best Foreign Film category, is also thanks to the art historian, who happened to be researching a book on Imre Ámos, which brought them to Nagykálló, the painter’s birthplace. Ámos’ maternal grandfather was a Hasidic Jew, Torah and Bible commentator, who helped him to learn about the world of miraculous rabbis, which informed the worldview of the film’s protagonist, Job. The film’s title role is that of screenwriter, alongside directors Imre Gyöngyössy and Barna Kabay. She was also the film’s editor.
In fact, we do not get to the essence of Katalin Petényi’s art, her creative personality, if we merely count where her name appears on the credits. Team-work – Imre Gyöngyössy called it that – has a different approach than traditional filmmaking.
To quote Gyöngyössy again: “My fascination with folk art has also helped me to realise that film is a particularly communal art, a collective work of art... While a painter or a silversmith clearly puts his own stamp on the work – the particular cultural circle, traditions, possible collaborators only indirectly help in the laborious process – film is a collective, inspired, single-purpose effort of a select group of people... There are no divided areas of work between us. In the practice of directing, it’s about collective concentration, humility before the work and patience with the collaborators… We try to clarify a common concept already during the script development.”
The threads of performance are inextricably woven together in a group of works. I've never heard them say it was any one person’s idea. Maybe for some of the films you don't even know anymore. “We have made a new film… We are working on an interesting subject.” They don't know the first person singular.
Out of necessity, but a few months before their move to Germany, Petényi learned even the most “technical” operation, editing, with the advice and help of Mrs Ferenc Szécsényi, one of the most famous editors. The fact that she had once studied music and so had a sense of rhythm and could easily see the structure of a picture, must have helped her in the editing process. Editing gave her confidence in the unknown and she could now really take part in the filming until the final cut. (If she had stayed in Hungary, she might not have been taught to edit by her colleague, as the film business was always a tough bread and butter business.)
When Katalin Petényi started filmmaking, women were still a rarity in the industry. But today, especially in documentary filmmaking, the number of women is very high, and this is particularly evident in the choice of subject matter. The key words in Katalin Petényi’s oeuvre are responsibility, solidarity, conscience and faith, and it is because she is a woman that she is more sensitive and personal in her experience of negative social processes and historical events, which she focuses on following and exploring. Once again, the strong empathy that is typical of women is necessary in order to relate to the actors and to establish the trust that is essential to empathise with the other person.
Solidarity with the persecuted at all times
The new migration in Europe had not yet begun, the leading television news channels were not yet talking about immigrants day after day, when they were already dealing with refugees and exiles in most of their films. They filmed on the subject in Brazil, Sri Lanka, the South China Sea, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Siberia and the list goes on. Needless to say, it was not exoticism that drew them to the far corners of the earth, but the fight against human suffering and for human dignity that they pursued with their cameras. Their first film on this subject was Boat People (1987), about the Vietnamese exodus, about migrants fleeing from communism by boat and risking their lives.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rehabilitation of the victims of communism was also immediately initiated (Ötven év hallgatás (Fifty Years of Silence, 1990), Száműzöttek (The Exiles, 1991), Holtak szabadsága (Freedom of the Dead, 1992), Halál sekély vízben (Death in Shallow Water, 1993). Perhaps the most painful and shocking of all is the hellish ordeal of the Lithuanian people under communism, as depicted in A holtak szabadsága (Freedom of the Dead).
Soviet terror measures, mostly on charges of collaboration, affected nearly 300,000 people in Lithuania, first in 1944 and then in the early 1950s. People were deported to Central Asia and Siberia, including mothers with young children. Lithuania was, for historical reasons, the strongest bastion of opposition to the Soviet regime and the first to secede from the Soviet Union in 1990. It was a turbulent time, because in January 1991 there was an attempt to restore Soviet power, which resulted in human sacrifice.
This is the hornet’s nest that Katalin Petényi and her colleagues reached into when they present the story of Gene, a woman who returned to Vilnius from Siberia, and her family in Irkutsk. During her daily life, we hear her correspondence with her son, who is in Irkutsk preparing the return of Vincas, Gene’s once deported brother, and the return of the bodies of his parents, who died in the camps, to rest in their native soil according to their will.
Though the Association of Deportees gives all the help it can to repatriates, they still have to make difficult decisions that can split up whole families. The camera follows the exhumation of parents frozen in Siberian soil in a cemetery in moving images. Vincas, Gene’s brother, returns to Vilnius from Irkutsk with his Russian wife and the bodies of his parents, but their daughters stay behind because that is where they were born and where their lives are. On the Hill of Crosses, where every displaced family has a cross, Vincas and Gene erect their own cross. The memorial site is an awe-inspiring sight, appearing several times in the film as a memento.
It meant a lot to Katalin Petényi to be able to make these films. She felt that perhaps leaving their homes was not in vain, as they could work to help the persecuted of all times and to explore the “deep wells of history”.
In a very prolific oeuvre, it is surprisingly diverse, albeit consistent in both subject matter and film type. She has made feature films, documentaries, portraits and educational films. Just some of her common themes are religion, being a minority, being an emigrant, the path-breakers of socialism and the fate of artists.
Two completely different types of film stand out from the uniformly high quality of her works and carry the essence of her films: the most thorough knowledge of the subject matter and artistically sophisticated execution.
Mapping the cosmos – A Közvetítő (The Intermediary)
The 6x25-minute TV series and film about the Benedictine Archabbey of Pannonhalma, which she shot with Barna Kabay 12 years after Imre Gyöngyössy’s death in 2005, raises questions that are still relevant today and have been around essentially for 1000 years. Katalin Petényi knew the monastery and the Benedictine grammar school well, where her husband studied for eight years from 1940, and which defined his moral values and spirituality. The film takes the viewer into the millennia-old walls and reveals the monks’ philosophy of life in action, drawing on the traditions of the past but adapting to the challenges of today’s changed world, the fertilising power of spirit and culture.
Archpriest Dr Asztrik Várszegi guides the audience through his “realm”, whose ranks and honours would be difficult to list. It is enough to recall his episcopal motto: “My strength is God.” Father Asztrik has devoted his entire personality and activity to the renewal of Christianity.
In the film, we learn about education that continues the tradition but changes with the needs of the times. The children who study here take the values they carry with them and there is a strong sense of return. They also have a famous film club, where they have the opportunity to learn about the values of the art of cinema from the country’s oldest filmmaker, the monk Ambrus Pintér.
The task of the monks is essentially “the march towards God”, which “is not only a moment of prayer, but also a moment of work, of service”, I quote the words of Cyril Hortobágyi, then Prior, now Archabbot. A harmony of spiritual and everyday action is realized in their daily activities. In addition to teaching and education, they are constantly developing their herb plantation and processing plant, the best known product of which is lavender. A rare historical continuity is the high quality of wine culture, the “joy of life”.
The film also commemorates the resistance of the Benedictines during World War II. Three thousand people were hidden in the institution, including Jews. Nine children were also given life within its walls. “God created man. There is no priority among them. Not Jews, not Slavs… Anyone who bears the image of God must be treated with total respect,” stresses Father Astrik Várszegi, who tirelessly mediates between people, religions and ideas. It is a touching moment to listen to the Dalai Lama within the walls of the abbey or to see the Torah scrolls, hidden here during the war, being given back to the people. And it is no coincidence that this mediating, reconciliatory role – no, not a role! a far-reaching, profound creed – resonates with the ars poetica of Petényi and her fellow artists, who consciously undertake to engage in constructive dialogue between East and West, between different peoples, religions and ideologies in their films.
The film imparts a wealth of knowledge to believers and even more to lay people, those without the power of faith, and it evokes strong emotions. We are introduced to a pure, radiant, pious but not pietistic world, where the soul walks in celebration, where even the filmmakers necessarily tiptoe. Richard Korzenszky, the Prior of Tihany, succeeds in making us believe that the monks’ life is an attempt to depict the order of the cosmos. The cinematographer in this film has to capture the miraculous most of the time, and as rewarding as this is a difficult task, Peter Jankura succeeds.
This film, which conveys knowledge of religious and cultural history, is a valuable addition. It should be in every secondary school. All the more so because several versions of it have been made, with different lengths to fit into the curriculum.
A century of shepherding
2013 saw the creation of the film Bakonyi juhászasszony (Bakony Shepherdess), which she co-directed. This Hungarian documentary is very rich in sheepherding themes. Some of the best filmmakers have made films about shepherds, such as János Erdélyi, Dezső Zsigmond, Arthur Bálint. In Bakonyi juhászasszony, however, a century of an occupation and a way of life is brought to life through the life story of Aunt Vilma from Szentgál. The deforestation in the Bakony at the beginning of the 20th century increased the amount of land available for grazing, and by the 1910s forty shepherd families had settled in the area. Among them were the Molnár family, whose ancestors were shepherds. At the beginning of the film, Aunt Vilma narrates the history and customs of shepherding, including the Molnár family, and the political persecution and economic oppression of the peasantry. Later, it becomes clear that the reason why this terse, tasty language is so fluent, almost breathless, is that her owner has already written three books on the history of the shepherds. Her father was an ambitious, hard-working man, able to hold the extended family together, and the craft was sometimes passed from father to son as well as daughter. The wives, if they didn’t go out to graze, were good with animals. They were particularly useful when shearing sheep, as sheep rearing is still a demanding craft. Shepherds usually married among themselves, but Aunt Vilma was an exception, because her husband was not a shepherd, though he learned the trade in a few years and they went on to run a very successful farm. They lived together for fifty-five years, but she had been a widow for ten years when the film was shot.
Aunt Vilma’s cleverness and intelligence were evident even as a young child. Her father did not let her near the teacher even as a little girl, lest she want to become one. “If I had been born today, I would still be a shepherd,” sums up the life of this elderly woman, who has passed on her love of animals to her daughter.
Aunt Vilma lives her life in front of the cameras with extraordinary naturalness. Katalin Petényi said of their first documentary, Két elhatározás (Two Decisions, 1977), which brought them fame and recognition throughout Europe, that she believes a good documentary can only be made if you get to know the characters, and practically live with them. For years, the directors followed the life of Aunt Vilma not only with their cameras. They often visited her in Szentgál. During their long conversations, the elderly woman’s pains and joys were shared and they became close.
The fastidiousness with which their works often attract the attention of the viewers – because, let’s admit it, out of necessity, due to a lack of money, even documentaries with a revelatory content are often a bit rushed – is also evident here. The cameramen – Sándor Csukás and Péter Jankura Csukás – capture the woman and her environment in symbiosis with nature in a memorable way. The portrayal of the relationship between man and nature and the intimate relationship between creators and protagonists is reminiscent of the first big hit, Két elhatározás. Like Közvetítő (The Intermediary), this film should be part of the documentary treasure trove from which new generations can learn about our authentic past, an institution that has not yet been created.
Szigorúan ellenőrzött életek (Lives under strict control)
In the early 2000s, they were among the first to tackle, in their documentaries, the issue of agents swept under the rug. Through meticulous research, thousands of pages of secret service records, and interviews with contemporary witnesses, they recreated the lives of people under the spell of secret agents during the years of communism. They first investigated the “Church held by the throat of the State” in Hungary and Transylvania, and made such revealing documentaries as Hitvallók és ügynökök (The Devout and Agents) and Szigorúan ellenőrzött életek. In the latter film they explored, among others, the suffering of Bishop Áron Márton. In the Jilava prison near Bucharest, which was still in operation after fifty-six years, they showed the messages carved into the walls of the underground cells and the bullet holes in the walls, tragic reminders of the brutality of the dictatorship. Later, in their documentary film Stigma, they showed, through the family of László Tőkés, how the Securitate had gained access to people’s privacy, let’s say it openly: their beds.
In 2023, in their latest documentary film Pannonhalmi Szamizdat – Egyházüldözés egy kolostorban (Samizdat from Pannonhalma – Church Persecution in a Monastery), they once again presented the life of the Benedictines of Pannonhalm and the Jesuits, Cistercians and Franciscans living in the Social Home in the monastery during the years of the communist dictatorship, with the help of the now retired Archpriest Asztrik Várszegi, using previously unknown documents. Despite constant surveillance by the state security services, wiretaps, house searches and undercover agents, the bookbinding workshops in the monastery printed the writings of the scholarly monks who taught at the grammar school and were imprisoned in the social home, as well as translations of the latest French ecclesiastical literature smuggled in from Vienna, which were illegally distributed to young people in Budapest. In total isolation, the monks managed to establish secret contacts with the Vatican. The reports of agents from Rome and the monastery of Pannonhalma and the actions of the state security services reveal the clash between betrayal and loyalty, violence and freedom of spirit.
Katalin Petényi was elected a member of the Film and Photography Section of the Hungarian Academy of Arts in 2021 in recognition of her work.
Notes:
1. Imre Ámos, 1982, Corvina publishing house monograph, Imre Ámos the Painter of the Apocalypse, 2015 documentary, 52 min, Duna TV, CinemaStar, NMHH
2. Imre Gyöngyössy: Hope and Myth, CinemaStar Kft, 2015, 15.p
3. Imre Gyöngyössy: Hope and Myth, CinemaStar Kft, 2015, 35. p. Extract from an interview with Gerard Courant in 1983.
[2022]