Robert Vas (''Vas Róbert'', 3 March 1931 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

– 10 April 1978) was 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 ...

who settled in England. He came to England after the Hungarian uprising in 1956. He was committed to documentary, like ''Refuge England'' (1959) and, after a short period working for the National Coal Board, he went on to make a seminal series of films for the BBC. These include ''The Golden Years of

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; ; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)

'' (1968) and ''Heart of Britain'' (1970), ''The Issue Should be Avoided'' (1971), ''My Homeland'' (1976), a three-hour examination of the life of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

(1973), and ''Nine Days in '26'' (1974). He had planned to make films about the " Gulag Archipelago" and the wartime bombing of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

before his untimely death on 10 April 1978.Gömöri György - Tisztelt Szerkesztőség! www.es.hu 2003. máj. 2. "... ahol Hochhuth ürügyén írtam erről, illetve Vas Róbert tragikus körülmények között, fiatalon meghalt, londoni magyar filmrendező (úgy emlékszem, 1975-ben készített) dokumentumfilmjét, amit annak idején a BBC sugárzott." In the BBC documentary tribute to Vas directed by Barrie Gavin, Karel Reisz said of him that his aim was to "inspire thought, to remind and warn".

References

Bibliography

* Burgan, John “Robert Vas”, Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film, ed. Ian Aitken, Routledge, New York, 2006, pp. 958–959 * Davies, Brenda, 'Obituary', BFI News, n. 34, July 1978, p. 3. * Barrie Gavin and Alan Rosenthal, 'Witness: In Memoriam, Robert Vas', ''Sight and Sound'', Summer 1978 pp. 186–189 * (BBC, broadcast 3/5/1978, Barrie Gavin)
Screenonline: Vas, Robert (1931-1978)
BFI online guide to Britain's film & TV history {{DEFAULTSORT:Vas, Robert 1931 births 1978 deaths Film people from Budapest Hungarian expatriates in England Hungarian film directors