Hungarian film producer and media mogul Andy Vajna dies

Andy Vajna, 74, a prominent figure of the Hungarian and international film industry, has died after a long illness in his Budapest home, the Hungarian National Film Fund told MTI on Sunday.

Vajna was the government commissioner in charge of the development of Hungary’s film industry.

According to index.hu, Andy Vajna was born in 1944 in Hungary, but his family moved the United States with the big emigration wave of 1956. His course of life is believed to have been quite adventurous.

He studied at the University of California Los Angeles and started working at the university’s Educational Motion Picture Department. Later he set up his own photo studio before establishing his own wig manufacturing company and operating cinemas in Hong Kong.

Vajna produced 59 films in all, including the Evita starring Madonna and Sylvester Stallone’s first three Rambo films.

He is mostly known for the movies he produced and for the different media projects he took part in. Among others, he played an important role in the careers of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Bruce Willis and Antonio Banderas can also be quite grateful for him.

He later managed to profit from his network in Hungary, and never forgot about his roots and Budapest in Hollywood.

In 2007, he opened the Korda Film Studio in Etyek with billionaire Sándor Demján and was chosen as the government commissioner in charge of the development of Hungary’s film industry a few years after Fidesz came into power in 2010.

“We are bidding farewell to the greatest Hungarian film producer. Hasta la vista, Andy! Thank you for everything, my friend!” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on his Facebook page.

The biggest success of the Hungarian National Film Fund created by Vajna was definitely Son of Saul.

He came up with the idea of the Film Fund in order to strengthen the Hungarian film industry and to back movies that have the potential of achieving international success. During the Vajna era, Hungarian movies supported by the National Film Fund won more than 130 international awards, while the number of movies shot in Hungary is constantly growing.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI, www.index.hu