Natural born talents?
The shorts of Szabó and Polanski text: Zsolt Gyenge illustration: Cristina Groşan
The persisting romantic idea of the “genius” makes us think that the „thing” that leads someone to great achievements and especially memorable works of art cannot be learnt. There has to be something, which we usually tend to call talent, that lies beneath all the studies and experiences, and which differentiates the hardworking mediocrity from the genius. And if this were true, we should be able to find the traces of this genius even in someone’s earliest works. This is why we have decided to research the early shorts of two great masters of the same generation from the Visegrád countries to find out if they are just well trained craftsmen or natural born talents. As a defining principle for “genius” we’ve chosen two directors who got an Academy Award later in their career.