Tibor Szemző
Szemző Tibor Born in 1955. Graduated at the Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest. from the late 70's he baceme known as composer and performer. In recent years his interest has turned increasingly to film as well. A Guest of Life is his first whole length feature.

films:
Skullbase Fracture 20' (video) - Béla Balázs Studio 1985
Cuba 32' (8/16mm, b&w) - BBS 1993
The Other Shore 20' (8/35mm, colour) - BBS / Duna Workshop 1998
What There Is 11' (8mm/video, b&w) Kép-Árnyék 2005
A Guest of Life - Alexander Csoma de Körös(8/35mm, colour) - Mediawave 2000 Kft. 2006

records:
Snapshot From The Island LP 1987, CD 1999, Private Exits LP 1989, Meteo/The Dreams Of Eckermann LP 1990, Ain't Nothing But A Little Bit Of Music For Moving Pictures CD 1992, The Conscience/Narrative Chamber Pieces CD 1993 The Last Hungarian Pvc SP 1994, Tractatus CD 1995, Relative Things CD 1998 The Other Shore CD 1999, Free Fall Oratorio CD 2000, Sunset On Left CD 2000 Invisible Story CD 2001, Danube Exodus CD 2002, South Of No North CD 2003

István "Taikyo" Szaladják
Szaladják "Taikyo" István
Born in 1962.
Graduated from the feature film and camera department of the College of Theatre and Cinematography in 1993.
films:
Scarecrow (1986, Super 8, colour)
Woodcutters (1990, 16 mm, b&w, director, camera)
Winnetou (1996-97, 35 mm, colour)
Don Quiote 1st version (1997-98, 35 mm, b&w)
Closure (1999, 35 mm, colour)
Vine leaves and Rose Leaves (1999, Super 16 mm, colour)
Golden Bird (1999, 35 mm, b&w, writer, director, camera)
The Boys from the House (2002, 35 mm, colour)
Tamara (2002, 35 mm colour)
Grenades (2002, 35 mm, colour)
Susannah York
Born in London, 1942. Highly regarded actress best noted for her work playing struggling, psychologically damaged characters. She won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of Cathryn in Images (1972) York was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Alice LeBlanc in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). The biggest box-office successes which she has been most recently associated with were the first two Superman films, in which she was cast as the Man of Steel's Kryptonian mother. Adding writing to her long list of accomplishments, Susannah York co-authored the script for her 1980 film Falling in Love Again, and has published several popular children's books.
Mari Törőcsik
Born in Pély, Hungary, 1935. The most popular and well known Hungarian actress, won all the important Hungarian awards. Golden Palm Award at Cannes (1976) among several others.'Actress of the Nation'.
  László Sári
Sári László Born in Budapest in 1950.
Graduated in Hungarian-Tibetan studies from the Eötvos Loránd University, then spent a year at the Eastern Department of the University of St. Petersburg with a scholarship. His field of research is Tibetan literature, mainly Tibetan poetry.

books and translations:

The Pure Sea, Guardian of Knowledge (Tibetan songs, 1984)
Wind-swept Bird's Feather of Your Soul (Cangjang Gjaco, the love poetry of the 6th Dalai Lama, 1999)
Morning conversations at Abbot Lin-csi's Monastery (1999)
The Face of the Himalayas (2001)
Journey to Tranquillity (2001)
Gateway to the East

Gábor Roskó
Roskó Gábor
Born in Budapest in 1956.
Graduated from the graphics department of the Hungarian Fine Arts Academy in 1991. Won a scholarship from the Hungarian Academy in Rome in 1991. Winner of a Munkácsy prize in 1995.

K. Bazovsky House published a book entitled 9 x 9 Zoo in 1999 from his fortnightly animal drawings in Life and Literature.
The key to his pictures is alienation and loneliness but these always appear in the shape of a story. There is great emphasis on detail in his art. Since 1981 he has taken part in many individual and group exhibitions.

Károly Kása Papp
1976-1978 Ixilon Studio, Pécs, 1978-1981 Studies at College of Fine Arts, scenery and costumes, 1984-1987 Pannonia Studio - Pécs, Puppet Atelier - Budapest, 1987-1990 Aladin Studio, Pécs, 1990-1999 Varga Studio, 2004- Studio Fabula

filmography
Smallbigfilm 1976, In Your Honorable Collection (w. Attila Auth, Géza Szalóczy) 1978, Gyurmatek 1984-1985, Augusta 1985-1986, Cupboard Tales 1987, Spirit's Minutes 1988-1989, Sigikid 1990, Augusta 1991-1992, The Life of Confucius, 1997, Don Quixote 1998-1999, Szalmabábok (animation) 2001, Smartalecs pilot 2003, A Guest of Life (animation) 2006
György Durst
Born in 1951.
1973-96 worked at the Béla Balázs Studio.1995 Producer of the Duna Workshop within the context of Duna TV.1997 established a foundation called Premier Plan to support first-time filmmakers. From 2002 director of the story editing department at Duna TV. Represents the Ravazdi Round Table Society as a founder member, president of the Mediawave Foundation advisory board, member of the Hungarian Film and Television Artists

 

A Guest of Life

Alexander Csoma de Körös

 colour, 35 mm, 79 minutes

 

 Director: Tibor Szemző

Storyteller: Susannah York / Mari Törőcsik

Script: László Sári

Cinematography: István "Taikyo" Szaladják

Editor: Teri Losonci

Music: Tibor Szemző

Paintings of animation: Gábor Roskó

Animations: Károly Kása Papp, Bálint Kolozsvári

Sound Engineer: Tamás Zányi

Assistants to the director: Adele Eizenstein, László Csáki

Production managers: Ferenc Komjáti, András Dávid

Co-producer: Attila Bognár

Producer: György Durst

 

*

 

CAST

in order of appearance

 

 The leaning shopkeeper, Keylong - Lhalita Das

 Donkey shepherd, Kanam - Kelu Ratha

 Corn seller, Rothang Pass - Natabar Ghanashiam

 

Birth anniversary, Kanam

 

 The celebrated son - Kaka

His father - Sh. Mohan Sing

His mother- Deva Dolma

Grandfather- Cherring Wandu

 

The inhabitants of the village

Gian Devi, Chetan Palmo, Samtan Devi, Moti Zangmo, Wang Dol Lamo, Sanam Dekit,

Jeevan Singh, Neema Wangchu, Sunder Lal, Chander Kirti, Kedar, Badri, Shukantala Devi,

Heera Dolma, Tum Devi, Mala Mol, Sonam Poti, Gian Chand, Phurbhu Cherring, Prem Lal, Rajkumar,

Narain Singh, Cherring Angail, Ringchain Medup, Chander Hans, Tanzin Devi, Gulab Devi, Phul Devi

 

Local Musicians

Sonamp, Hishe, Pachhan, Tanzin, Ashwin, Devi Singh, Agar Chand, Modup Cherring

 

 

Monastery, Kanam

The Headlama - Lama Lobsang Gedun

The Monks - Ram Lal,  Dharam Negi, Gambir Singh, DevKumar

 

 

Kanam scene coordinator

Rattan Negi

 

Muslim tailors, Delhi - Ali Karamat, Moti Sil, Dildar Fatua

Men at the mosque, Fatepuhr Sikri - Eniat Hosain, Faiyaz Ali, Manmohan Chote Khan, Abid  Hussain

Photographer, Delhi - Amarjit Singh

Three figures in front of the Taj Mahal - Laksmi Djena, Golam Kadar, Bhakei Djena

Rower on the River Yamuna - Govinda Puhana

 

At the River Ganga

 The teacher - Balram Malla

The student - Saria Mangadarj

Rowing woman - Bimali Tijadi

The barber - Bakulla Khan

The customer - Djagannath Ratha

The baby - Rama Sirkar

Sleeping man - Ganga Govind

 

The "dance" of the monks

"Druk Sa-ngan Choeling" Monastery, Darjeeling

The "Druk Sa-ngan Choeling" Monastery scene coordinator

Headlama Ngawang Tenzin Gyatso

With the consent of  His Eminence Thuksey Rinpoche and  Drukchen Rinpoche

 

Muslim butcher, Calcutta - Zaher Baksh

 

 

 

ANIMATION

 

Design, paintings

Gábor Roskó

 

Crew

Anita Zsivkov, Árpád Zsák, Bazil Duliskovich

 

Animation layout designer

Károly Kása Papp

 

Animator

Bálint Kolozsvári

 

 

 

 

VOICES

 

Storyteller

Susannah York

 

Wanderer

Tibor Szemző

 

 

OTHER VOICES

in order of speaking

 

Milarepa  - Lobsang Dhamchoe (Tibetan 'Gurma-song')

Recitation from The Book of the Dead - Lama Lobsang Gedun

Milarepa and first Lama- Tsering Wangyal (in Tibetan)

Indian schoolteacher and Hindi storyteller - Divya Mani

Strabon - Nikos Sergis (in Ancient Greek)

The Professor and Gautama  Buddha - Satya Vrat Shastri (in Sanskrit and Pali)

A. Henry Savage Landor and the Wanderer saying farewell- László Székely B. (in Hungarian)

Classmate from Nagyenyed - Zoltán Rihmer (in Latin)

Hungarian schoolmistress  - Ági Krasznahorkai

Himalayan guide - Rattan Negi (in Hindi)

German man (J. W. Goethe) - Wilhelm Droste

The Wanderer and the Moon - Djabra Ankush (in Arabic)

German lady - Madelaine Meran

Second lama - Jampa Dhadak (in Tibetan)

The Fairy of Magical Awakening and the yearning Wanderer - AmirSaman Nikzad (in Persian)

Francis Bain - Ashok Roy (in Bengali)

The Moon - Rumpali Mukherjee (in Bengali)

Persian storyteller - Zarrin Tadj Lotfi Shodjaian

Yomo - Tsewang Dolma (in Tibetan)

Third lama - Ngawang Tenzin Gyatso (in Tibetan)

The Indian Master of Ceremony - Indukant Angiras (in Hindi)

The Indian lady-in-waiting - Archana Tripathi (in Hindi)

The King in the dream - Bushan Sharma (in Hindi)

Bengali storyteller - Tarak Mozumdar

 Meditating Wanderer - Subrata Dutta-Chaudhuri (in Bengali)

Sanskrit speaker - Bandana Mukhopadhyay

Meditating lady - Györgyi Kari (in Hungarian)

Chinese man - Wang Yue

 

 

Consultants

Géza Bethlenfalvy

Zoltán Kőrösi

 

Language Consultants

Karma Dorje - Tibetan

Mária Négyesi - Hindi

Tibor Porosz - Pali

Gergely Hidas - Sanskrit

András Mohay - Ancient Greek

Madelaine Meran - German

Imre Hamar, Ottó Juhász - Chinese

 

 

Translator

Tim Wilkinson - English

 

Karma Dorje - Tibetan

Shoma Choudhury - Bengali

Bushan Sharma - Hindi

Zoltán Rihmer - Latin

Róbert Simon- Persian and Arabic

Nicholas Bodóczky - Hungarian

 

Readers

Balázs Déri - Latin

Ágnes Németh - Persian

 

 

 

Assistants to the director

László Csáki

Adele Eizenstein

 

Camera technician

Attila Solymosi

 

Gaffer

József Simon

 

Sound recordings, India

Zoltán Regenye Regi

 

Nepalese sherpas, Kanam

Kunga Gyaltsen, Tsepon Doring, Khenche Thogmed

 

Drivers, India

Ganga Prasad Chaudhury, Kumar  Chatterji, Surya Mishra

Visnu Purbaran Ganguli,  Sukhvinder Singh

 

Coordination, India

Attila Bognár

 

Production managers

Ferenc Komjáti

András Dávid

 

 

 

 

 

THE  MUSICIANS

 

The Gordian Knot Music Company

Ildi Fodor - soprano

Laca Kéringer - tenor

Zsigmond Lázár - violin

Éva Posvanecz - viola

Tibor Szemző - bassflute

Alois Samson - wind controller

István Grencsó - tenor sax

Szabolcs Keresteą - piano

Ernst Hirschberg - keyboards

T. Bali - electric guitar

Mihály Huszár - bass, bassguitar

Tamás Geröly - beaten gardon

Bálint Pödör - percussions

Zsombor Dudás - drums

 

Tomasini String Quartet

László Paulik - first violin

Erzsébet Rácz - second violin

Éva Posvanecz - viola

Balázs Máté - cello

 

Voces Aequales

Zoltán Gavodi - countertenor

Csaba Gyulai - tenor

Zoltán Mizsei - bariton

 

 

 

 

MUSIC AND SOUND RECORDING

 

Music consultant

László Hortobágyi

 

Coordination

János Kálmán

 

Music recording

László Hortobágyi, Károly Liszkai

 

Sound recording

Tamás Cornides, István Horváth, Károly Liszkai, Zoltán Regenye Regi

 

Tape operator

Mariann Váli

 

Sound restoring

István Horváth

 

Music mixes

László Hortobágyi

 

English voice over consultant

Caroline Bodóczky

 

Sound designer & re-recording mixer

Tamás Zányi

 

 

 

IMAGES

 

Offline scan

Károly Kamerda

 

Asistant editor

Zoltán Varga

 

System administrator

Aurél Galántai

 

Typography

Péter Csatai Fontster

 

Negative editor

Györgyi Féjja

 

Digital grading (Lustre)

Vilmos Thernesz

Dániel Berger

 

Technical assistant

Balázs Szigethy

 

VFX producer

István Erkel

 

Film grader

Judit Szép

 

Arrilaser image recording

Géza Németh

 

 

*

 

Special thanks to

 

Rainer Akkermann, Iván Angelus, Nazila Atarodi, Tamás Bakó, Márton B. Balogh,

Nicholas Bodóczky, Uli Brockmeyer, Géda Dobosy, Afshin Esmaeilzadegen, Balázs Féjja,

András Forgách, Sanjey Ganacharya, Tamás Glaser, Peter Haley Dunne, Adrienn Hód,

Judit Horváth, Péter Horváth, Erzsébet Zsoli Huber, Dezső Kiss, László Kolozsváry,

Albert Koncsek, Ramin Lotfi, László Magács, Paul Merrick, Lili Monori, Éva Nováczky,

Tong Shenghai, Duncan Shiels, Allan Siegel, Liz Szász, Helga Szőke, László Torvai Sr,

Mari Törőcsik, Zoltán Vida, Zsolt Vida, Wang Wenya, Zhang Qing Bin

 

Hungarian State Theatre, Kolozsvár, Rumania

Levente Borsos, József  Bíró, Áron Dimény,

Attila Keresztes, Róbert Laczkó Vass, Levente Molnár,

Attila Orbán, Lehel Salat, Ferenc Sinkó, András Visky

 

New Delhi

Margit Köves, Tina Chhetri, Anubhuti Maurya

Ved Prakash, Rinpoche Dobun Turku, Alíz Radnóti,

Nirupma, Amit Baneri, Ranjeet Singh, Sunjeet Kumar Singh

 

Kanam

Chering Yangmo, Dawa Dekit, Yashwant Singh Paisor

 

Sarnath

Tinzin Sidon, Pemba Sherpa

 

Darjeeling

Tsbering Norbu Dekeva

 

Calcutta

Dilip Roy, Dilip Coomar Ghose, Tania Bhattacharya

 

and many others

 

 

LITERARY SOURCES

 

Motives from Szekler folk tales

 

Milarepa

The world's a stronghold for the reclusive cloistered sage

 

 

The Book of the Dead

 

Strabo

The Geography of Strabo

 

 

The Puranas

 

A. Henry Savage Landor

In the Forbidden Land. An Account of a Journey in Tibet.

 

Shu la tze

The Wanderings of the Young Lin-chi

 

Tshangs dbyangs Rgya mtsho, the 6th Dalai Lama

Poems

 

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha

The 'Fire speech' from 'The Book of the Disciple' [Mahávagga]

 

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Ilmenau, Trilogy of Passion, To Werther

 

Francis Bain

An Incarnation of the Snow

 

Cao Xueqin and Gao E

The Dream of the Red Chamber

 

Translations

Tim Wilkinson, H. L. Jones, John Whaley, I.B. Horner

 

 

*

 

THE MUSIC

 

Tibor Szemző

 

byang chub rdzong gi dben gnas hdi

The world's a stronghold for the reclusively cloistered sage

 

nkhor ba mthan med mu mthan med par khyams

Leaving you no choice but to roam in an infinite and boundless Maelstrom

 

Ton de myrmekon ton chrysorychon dermata idein phesin houtos pardaleais homoia

.But their skins are like those of leopards

 

At diabolus numquam in his plagis firmiter insistere potuit

But the devil was never truly able to gain a footing in this region

 

Devavarshasahasreshu 'pi na shaknuyam himalayasya stutim prakirtitum

Even the millennia of the gods would not allow me to hymn to you the glories of the Himalayas

 

Frigide et longe

Coolly and from afar

 

Des Menschen Leben scheint ein herrlich Los

The life of man seems such a splendid fate

 

Wer kennt sich selbst?

Who knows himself?

 

ekbar bhabo ami na thakle ratrir rup kemon hato?

For just imagine what the night would be without me!

 

Hiába marasztalta, itt sem maradhatott

But she too pressed in vain to detain him; he was unable to stay

 

Na moteallegh be alam-e asemani, na moteallegh be alam-e donyavi

Fit for neither the celestial nor the earthly world

 

dwags mo rnam-thar legs pa mi rtag hchi ba med na

men would live for time without end, happy too, amongst generous maids

 

Maha¶ay hamara de¶ tumhare j¤an se chamak raha hai.

Sir, your learned fame illuminates our celestial land with great light!

 

Omnes de India nuntii perpendendi sunt sedulo

We must thoroughly weigh up the reports about India

 

Qing geng feng xia yi gu song

I have my home under the Green Cliff

 

Nincs semmi sem, csak ti vagytok, míg vagytok egyáltalán

Nothing at all is, only you are insofar as you are at all

 

 

 

 

Joseph Haydn

 

Die Sieben Worte [Hob. XX/2] - The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross

Introduzione (Adagio maestoso), String Quartet version

 

 

Muhammad Rafi

 

Kya ajab saz hai yah shahnai - "shahnai", How marvellous instrument is this shahnai!

Text: Rajinder Krishen, Conductor: Ravi

 

 

 

RECORDINGS

 

Futterbasis

HSB Studio

Tharnox Studio

Gayan Utteyak Mandal

Hungarian Radio

HEAR Studio

Saint Audio

 

 dts

 

 

 

 

Travelling, India

Embassy Tour & Travel, Ragwinder Singh Bains, New Delhi

Indian Railways

 

 

Animations

Zsák Garage, RG/GR Studio, Kolozsvári Workshop,

New Performing Art Foundation, PK Studio Ltd.

 

 

 

Kodak Hungary

 

8 mm developing

Andec Filmtechnik, Berlin

 

35 mm developing

Magyar Filmlaboratórium

 

8 mm scanning

Online Video, Zürich

 

35 mm scanning

Oberon Studio

 

Visual effects

Oberon VFX

 

 

Contributors

Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary

Nemzeti Kulturális Örökség Minisztériuma

Eurocar

Földhitel- és Jelzálogbank Rt.

Duna Television Hungary

 

Hungarian Information and Cultural Center, Delhi

Tibet House, New Delhi

Buddhist University, Sarnath

Asiatic Society, Calcutta

Hungarian Radio Department of Arts

 

 

 

Mediawave 2000 Kft. -  A38 Kht. - Gordioso Kft.

 

2006