S. Takács András

Andras S. Takacs (born in Budapest, Hungary on 25 July 1987) has directed and produced over 80 award-winning TV documentaries from the revolution in Egypt to the French Foreign Legion in Central-America with her wife and colleague Mrs. Eszter Cseke. The motto of their documentary series ‘On the Spot’ is from Robert Capa: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” Eszter Cseke and Andras S. Takacs have filmed with artists like Wim Wenders and Salman Rushdie, politicians like Aung San Suu Kyi and Ban Ki Moon, and religious leaders like the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis. Their work appeared on major channels like SundanceTV, BBC World, Al Jazeera America AJ+, ZDF and ARTE. Their exclusive history programming includes German-Hungarian co-production ‘Children of Dictators’ which aired in over 100 countries from Spiegel Geschichte to Deutsche Welle, while their following series captured the heavy heritage of childhood trauma from Transylvania to North Korea. On the Spot’s most personal season explored giving birth in different cultures. ‘Around the World in 9 Months’ was produced in 10 countries from Bali to Mexico, which gave the creators a rarely wide spectrum on the topic of birth while they were expecting their own baby who was born at the end of the last episode. Episodes of On the Spot appeared in the official selection of festivals like the Krakow International Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival TV Awards, the Sarajevo International Film Festival or the Monte Carlo TV Festival where On the Spot won the Golden Nymph for Best Documentary. Spot’s approach has been called “rare and exclusive” by the BBC while the Financial Times wrote ‘On The Spot’ is “up-close and visceral”, adding that “Takacs and Cseke plunge their cameras into the heart of the action, asking questions that are normally suppressed”.

Recent titles: On the Spot (Season 1–9), Children of Dictators (Limited Series), Born in Auschwitz (Feature Documentary).

Awards:

Special Prize – 59th Hungarian Independent Film Festival (2007)
Special Mention of the Jury – 40th Hungarian Film Festival (2008)
Press Freedom Award – Council of Europe, Strasbourg (2011)
Golden Nymph for Best Documentary – 53rd Monte Carlo Television Festival (2013)
Gold Plaque for Best News Documentary – 50th Chicago International Film Festival TV Awards (2014)
Best Foreign Short Film – American Documentary Film Festival (2014)
SONUMA Award for Best History Project – 25th Sunny Side of the Doc, La Rochelle (2014)
Prima Primissima Award – Budapest, Hungary (2014)
Pulitzer Memorial Prize – Budapest, Hungary (2014)
Silver Plaque for Best Social Documentary – 51th Chicago International Film Festival TV Awards (2015)
Golden Olive for Best Environmental Documentary – 20th Montenegro International Television Festival (2015)
Audience Award – MIPDoc International Pitch Forum, Cannes (2015)
Best History Project Award – 27th Sunny Side of the Doc, La Rochelle (2016)

 

Nominations:

Official Selection – 41th International Public Television Screening Conference, Bangkok (2019)
Official Selection – 15th VERZIO International Human Rights Film Festival (2018)
Official Selection BH – 24th Sarajevo International Film Festival (2018)
Official Selection – 40th International Public Television Screening Conference, New York City (2018)
Official Selection – 12th VERZIO International Human Rights Film Festival (2015)
International Short Competition – 54th Krakow Film Festival (2014)
Official Selection – 22nd DokumentART European Festival for Documentaries (2013)
Nominee for Prix Europe for Best European Documentary (2013)
Nominee for Prix Italia for Best European Documentary (2013)
Official Selection – 39th Hungarian Film Festival

 

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

Born in Auschwitz (2020 – feature documentary)
On the Spot: Daughter of the Valley (2019 – TV documentary)
One World Family (2019 – web documentary series)
On the Spot: Smart World (2018 – limited documentary series)
Children of the Enemy (2017 – limited documentary series )
Around the World in 9 Months (2016 – limited series of 12 episodes)
Children of Dictators (2016 – limited series of 4 episodes)
On The Spot: World Cup in the Amazon (2014)
On The Spot: Warriors (2012 – documentary series)
On The Spot: Tribes (2012 – documentary series)
On The Spot (Three seasons 2009-2011 – documentary series)
Walk With Wim – Portrait on Wim Wenders (2009 – short documentary)
The Intern (2008 – short documentary)
New York – Budapest (2007 – short documentary)
Looking Back (2005 – short documentary)