Mr. Szabó received the award on 19 September. The audience of CineFest Hungary's had the chance to see the real face of Central Europe: CineClassics presented three consecutive evenings the 75-year-old István Szabó's and the 70-year-old Klaus-Maria Brandauer's three masterpieces, which show three typical Central European characters. An Academy Award, three Academy Award nominations, Golden Globe nominations, BAFTA and Cannes awards: this is the result the unique collaboration between the Hungarian director and the Austrian actor, which started in 1980 with the Mephisto, where István Szabó said something fundamental about power, politics and art in Central Europe.
Four years later the cooperation continued with Colonel Redl, which takes place prior to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Redl, the soldier sees his absolute fidelity to power as the path to success. The hero of Hanussen, their 1988 movie, is the magician and seer who lives between the two World Wars - and sees the rise and fall of the Nazis. All three characters fail but their cathartic stories help the viewers to understand the world around us - and not only in Central Europe. These spectacular historical tableaux were successful not only here but worldwide, making Klaus-Maria Brandauer an international star and István Szabó one of the world's best directors.