Can Togay (; born August 27, 1955), also known as János Can Togay, is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter,

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, producer, cultural manager and cultural diplomat.

Biography

Can Togay was born the son of Turkish parents. He spent his childhood in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 1969, he joined the Péter Halász troupe. Between 1973 and 1978, he studied on the German and English faculty of Eötvös Loránd University, followed by two years of post-graduate work on German-French comparative linguistics under Jean-Marie Zemb of the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. He finished in 1980. In 1984, he graduated from the faculty of direction of the Színház- és Filmművészeti Főiskola (College of Theatrical and Video Arts) in Budapest as the student of

Zoltán Fábri Zoltán Fábri (15 October 1917 – 23 August 1994) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His films ''The Boys of Paul Street'' (1969) and ''Hungarians'' (1978) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. H ...

. In 1991 he moved to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

for four years. His 1992 film '' A nyaraló'' was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

1992 Cannes Film Festival The 45th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1992. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Den goda viljan'' by Bille August. The festival opened with ''Basic Instinct'', directed by Paul Verhoeven and closed with ''Far and Away'', directed by R ...

. In 1978, he had poems published in the Mozgó Világ (Moving World). In 2004, his first collection of poems was released by the publisher Aranykor Kiadó (Golden Age Publisher). He conceived the idea of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Memorial ''Cipők a Duna-parton'' ( Shoes on the Danube Promenade) in Budapest, and was also a co-maker of it with

Gyula Pauer Gyula may refer to: * Gyula (title), Hungarian title of the 9th–10th century * Gyula (name), Hungarian male given name, derived from the title ; People * Gyula II, the ''gyula'' who was baptized in Constantinople around 950 * Gyula III, the ''g ...

. Since January 1, 2008, he is the head of the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, the Hungarian Institute for Science and Culture in the German capital and the

cultural attaché A cultural attaché is a diplomat with varying responsibilities, depending on the sending state of the attaché. Historically, such posts were filled by writers and artists, giving them a steady income, and allowing them to develop their own crea ...

of the Hungarian Embassy.

Works

Awards

* Balázs Béla-award * München, High School Film Festival, Award for Best High School Program, Special Mention – The Day of the Devil * Manuscrit de Vercorin screenplay award 95 – A Winter in The Back of Beyond * Budapesti Filmszemle 1999, Award for Best Actor (Eperjes Károly) – A Winter in The Back of Beyond * Szocsi 00 international competition – Surcharge of the Jury – A Winter in The Back of Beyond * Alexandria Filmfesztivál 1994, Best Male Actor – An Autumn Story * Movie Actor of the Year – Award of the Turkish Movie Actors' Association – An Autumn Story

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Togay, Can 1955 births Living people Hungarian film directors Hungarian screenwriters Male screenwriters Hungarian male writers Eötvös Loránd University alumni University of Paris alumni Hungarian male film actors Hungarian people of Turkish descent Male actors from Budapest