Can Togay (; born August 27, 1955), also known as János Can Togay, is a Hungarian
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
,
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
,
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
,
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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
, 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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. 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 people, Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His films ''The Boys of Paul Street'' (1969) and ''Hungarians (film), Hungarians'' (1978) were nominated for the Academy Awa ...
. In 1991 he moved to
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
for four years.
His 1992 film ''
A nyaraló'' was screened in the
Un Certain Regard section at the
1992 Cannes Film Festival.
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 Memorial ''Cipők a Duna-parton'' (
Shoes on the Danube Promenade) in Budapest, and was also a co-maker of it with
Gyula Pauer.
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 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
20th-century Hungarian screenwriters
Hungarian male screenwriters
Eötvös Loránd University alumni
University of Paris alumni
Hungarian male film actors
Hungarian people of Turkish descent
Male actors from Budapest
21st-century Hungarian screenwriters