On DVD/VOD: NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, February 28: NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY: LÁSZLÓ & VILMOS

James Chressanthis’ portrait of two acclaimed Hollywood cinematographers and Hungarian ex-pats made its world premiere at Cannes in 2008. It went on to screen at a number of additional notable fests, including Denver, Palm Springs, Buenos Aires, Thessaloniki Documentary, Hong Kong, and New Orleans, picking up six jury and audience awards during its festival run. The doc made its broadcast premiere on PBS’ Independent Lens in 2009.

Spanning half a century, the story of László Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond encompasses Cold War politics, the American New Wave, and the American Dream. Through numerous film clips and interviews with the two friends, their families, and a remarkable number of Hollywood colleagues and admirers, from Peter Bogdanovich to Karen Black, Peter Fonda to Leonard Maltin, Chressanthis simultaneously explores the filmmaking dreams of a pair of Hungarians who had fled the Soviet invasion of their country, and their role in the transformation of the look of post-studio system Hollywood – Kovacs for films like EASY RIDER and PAPER MOON, Zsigmond for MCCABE & MRS MILLER and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, among others. László and Vilmos are amiable subjects, and the quality of their work shines in the doc, but what’s also compelling is their shared history and friendship, which began at film school in their native country and continued until Kovacs died the year before the film’s debut.