Kornél Mundruczó

Theatre

Mundruczó has worked in theatre and opera since 2003, first in Hungary and then in theatres abroad such as the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the TR Warszawa, the Schauspielhaus Zürich and the Vlaamse Opera. He is most keen to begin new projects where he finds the subject, collaborators and venue inspiring. During the creative process, he strives to create a team. For new projects, he very often casts the same actors, who work with him as creative partners. After freelancing with more or less the same group of people for several years, in 2009, he founded Proton Theatre,^[6] his independent theatre company, with producer Dóra Büki.^[7]

Proton Theatre is a virtual artistic company organised around the director's independent productions. Besides preserving maximum artistic freedom, their goal is to ensure a professional structure for their independently produced theatre plays and projects. Chiefly, their performances are realized as international co-productions, and their frequent collaborators include the Wiener Festwochen,^[8] HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin,^[9] Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels,^[10] Trafó House of Contemporary Arts in Budapest^[11] and Hellerau in Dresden.^[12] Productions directed by the artistic leader include The Ice (2006);^[13] Frankenstein-project (2007), which inspired his later film Tender Son;^[14][15] Hard to be a God (2010);^[16] Disgrace (2012), based on the post-apartheid novel by Nobel Prize-winner J. M. Coetzee and, in turn, inspiring his film White God;^[17] Dementia (2014),^[18] Winterreise (2015),^[19] Imitation of Life (2016),^[20] The Raft of the Medusa (2018),^[21] Evolution (2019)^[22] inspiring his film with the same title,^[23] The Seven Deadly Sins/Motherland (2020)^[24][25] and Parallax.^[26] In addition, Proton wishes to provide space for the realisation of company members’ ideas. In this spirit, they created the following performances: Last (2014), directed by Roland Rába;^[27] 1 link (2015), directed by Gergely Bánki^[28] and Finding Quincy by János Szemenyei.

Proton's performances have toured to more than 130 festivals until 2024,^[29] including the Festival d’Avignon,^[30] the Adelaide Festival,^[31] the Singapore International Festival,^[32] the Seoul Bo:m Festival, and the Zürcher Theater Spektakel.^[33]

In 2017, for Imitation of life, Mundruczó was nominated for the Faust Award. It was the first time in the history of this award that a non-German theatre, in this case a Hungarian independent company was nominated.^[34][35] In the same year Mundruczó has been nominated for the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities of the Europe Theatre Prize.^[36]

In 2024 Mundruczó won the Nestroy Theatre Prize for Best Director for Parallax by Proton Theatre. It was the first time not only a Hungarian director was awarded, but also for a Hungarian production.^[37]

Film

Mundruczó's first full-length feature This I wish and nothing more^[38] won, among other prizes, the award for best first film at the 31st Hungarian Film Week,^[39] as well as its Students’ Jury and Directors’ Guild Awards.^[40] He directed his short film Afta^[41] shortly after leaving school.^[when?] It went on to win numerous international awards.^[42] Pleasant Days,^[43][44] his second feature film, was awarded the Silver Leopard in Locarno in 2002.^[45][46] In 2003, he won the Cinéfondation Program's artistic grant, within the framework of the Cannes International Film Festival, where he developed the screenplay of the film Delta, together with Yvette Bíró in Paris.^[47]

He has been a member of the European Film Academy since 2004.^[48][49] In 2005, he won the Nipkow Program's artistic grant^[50] to participate for three months in courses and consultations for talented screenwriters and directors in Berlin. His fourth, fifth, and seventh feature-length films were entered in the official competition of Cannes Film Festival: Delta in 2008, Tender Son in 2010^[51] and Jupiter's Moon in 2017.^[52] The first won the FIPRESCI Award.^[53]

In 2014, his film, White God – which was invited to Cannes Film Festival and made with the support of Eurimages, the European Council's film foundation and the Hungarian National Film Foundation^[54][55] – won the main prize of the Un Certain Regard program at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.^[56] Also, the film's canine star won the Palm Dog Award for best performance by a dog.^[57] It was screened in the Spotlight section of Sundance Film Festival in 2015.^[58]

His first English-language feature, Pieces of a Woman (2020), had its world premiere at the main competition of the 77th Venice International Film Festival,^[59] where Vanessa Kirby won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her lead performance in the movie. Later she even received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role.^[60]

In 2021, his film Evolution premiered in the Cannes Premiere section of 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Loosely based on his wife, Kata Wéber, family experiences as Holocaust survivors, it follows three generations of a Hungarian Jewish family marked by the World War II.^[61]

After a five-year hiatus, Mundruczó returned with his second English-language feature film At the Sea (2026), starring Amy Adams. The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Bear.

He followed with Place to Be (also 2026), starring Ellen Burstyn and Taika Waititi. The film will have its world out of competition of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.

Political views

The couple also advocate for the arts in Hungary; after their alma mater was taken over by the government, they wore protest T-shirts at the 77th Venice International Film Festival.^[66]

Feature film

Short film

Television

Opera