The news flew a bit under the radar locally, but back in 2019 an Academy Award went to an American film-maker of Hungarian extraction. The award was Best Documentary Feature, and the recipient was Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. You don’t have to look too deeply to find the Hungarian connection, as vasarhely transliterates from Hungarian to English as ‘marketplace’ and is likely the shortened form of the town name, Hódmezővásárhely, or, ‘beaver field market place.’ One should get an award for just being able to say it.

Along with her husband, Jimmy Chin, Vasarhelyi directed the daring documentary Free Solo, which profiled rock climber and alpinist Alex Honnold on his historic free solo climb of the El Capitan peak in 2017. Just to make clear what the topic of the film was, the El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park in the state of California is 3,000 feet (914 m) high, and its sheer face is a magnate for climbers, though few dare to go ‘free solo’ which means without the support of a partner or safety ropes.

Of the film Free Solo, Jeannette Catsoulis in The New York Times said, it’s "an engaging study of a perfect match between passion and personality.” Rogerbert.com wrote, “Chin and Vasarhelyi have done such a good job laying out some of El Capitan’s specific challenges for the viewer that they become resonant beats in a mini-story arc. It’s scary and exhilarating stuff.'“

Though Vasarhelyi was not born in Hungary, her father was a Hungarian immigrant. One of her first professional jobs was as an assistant director to Hollywood legend Mike Nichols on the film Closer. From there, she worked with Emmy-Award-winning cinematographer Scott Duncan documenting the Dakar Rally, and stayed with the setting of Senegal to work on such subjects as the elections.

With several more documentaries completed since her Oscar win, including The Rescue and Return to Space, Vasarhelyi is currently finishing a documentary about 64-year-old marathon swimmer, Diana Nyad, and her attempt to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida. As for Free Solo, we’ve included the riveting trailer below.

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