Géza Röhrig

Géza Röhrig
Born	May 11, 1967 Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian
Alma mater	Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest
Occupation	Actor, Poet
Religion	Hasidic Judaism

Géza Röhrig (Hungarian: Röhrig Géza; born May 11, 1967) is a Hungarian actor and poet. He is best known for his role in the 2015 film Son of Saul,^[1][2] which won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Life and career

Géza Röhrig was born on May 11, 1967, in Budapest, Hungary. His mother left the family after he was born, and his father died when he was four, so Röhrig spent his childhood in foster care.^[3] From the age of 12 he was raised by a Jewish family. In the 1980s, he was the frontman of an underground music band called Huckleberry (also known as HuckRebelly), whose concerts were almost always interrupted by the communist authorities. At university he studied Hungarian and Polish, and after a visit to Auschwitz during a study tour in Poland, he decided to become a Hasidic Jew in Brooklyn. He portrayed poet Attila József in a film by József Madaras.^[4] He studied filmmaking under István Szabó.^[4][5]

He published two collections of poems on the theme of the Shoah, Hamvasztókönyv (literally "Book of Incineration", 1995) and Fogság ("Captivity", 1997).^[6] He graduated from the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest with a degree in filmmaking.^[7] He has lived in the Bronx borough of New York City since 2000^[8] where he received a degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and has been a kindergarten teacher.^[9] He was married twice and has four children.^[3] He has published many collections of poetry.^[10]

Work

Prose

• A Rebbe tollatépett papagája: képzelt haszid történetek (in Hungarian). Budapest: Múlt és Jövő. 1999. ISBN 963-9171-22-0.

Poetry

• Hamvasztókönyv (in Hungarian). Budapest: Múlt és Jövö. 1995. ISBN 963-85295-2-0.
• Fogság (in Hungarian). Budapest: Széphalom Könyvműhely. 1997. ISBN 963-9028-10-X.
• Éj (in Hungarian). Budapest: Széphalom Könyvműhely. 1999. ISBN 963-9028-56-8.
• Sziget (in Hungarian). Budapest: Széphalom Könyvműhely. 2000. ISBN 963-9028-75-4.
• Törvény : [versek] (in Hungarian). Budapest: Múlt és Jövő. 2006. ISBN 963-9512-20-6.^[10]
• Honvágy (in Hungarian). Budapest: Múlt és Jövő. 2010. ISBN 978-963-9512-57-3.
• az ember aki a cipőjében hordta a gyökereit (in Hungarian). Budapest: Magvető. 2016. ISBN 978-963-14-3372-2.

Filmography

Film

• 2015: Son of Saul by László Nemes: Saul

Television

• 1989: Közjáték, episode Mrożek: Levélkék (director)^[11]
• 1989: Eszmélet by József Madaras, episodes 1 and 2: Attila József^[12][13]
• 1990: Armelle by Jacek Lenczowski: Piotr

References

1. "Culture - Saul’s inferno: Searing Holocaust drama stuns Cannes festival". France 24.
2. "Géza Röhrig". IMDb.
3. "Híres örökbefogadottak: Röhrig Géza". orokbe.hu. 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
4. "Röhrig Géza - Úgy éreztem, udvari bolonddá kezdek válni". jbsz.hu. Magyar Hírlap. 1991-04-12. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
5. Brugós Bernadette (2016-02-29). "Röhrig Géza, a Saul fia sztárja: halottmosdatással foglalkozik New Yorkban". femcafe.hu. Retrieved 2015-06-10.
6. "Magyar Narancs - Film - "Csak ezt az egy regényt kell megírnom" (Röhrig Géza költő)". magyarnarancs.hu.
7. Szemere Katalin (February 13, 2013). "Kultúra: Élesztő és irodalom - NOL.hu". NOL.hu.
8. Antony Lane, "Deep and Dark," The New Yorker, December 21, 2015: 227
9. Davidzon, Vladislav (May 29, 2015). "The Kindergarten Teacher Who Won Cannes". Tablet.
10. "Múlt és Jövő Kiadó - Törvény - All Categories - Publishing House". multesjovo.hu.
11. "filmhu - naptár - kategória - klub - FMS Filmfesztivál". magyar.film.hu.
12. "Géza Röhring". IMDb.
13. "Eszmélet". PORT.hu.