Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1909, Constantinople, now Istanbul-2003, New York) was born Elias Kazanjoglou. His family moved to the US in 1913. He studied acting at Yale University, and in New York in 1947 he co-founded the renowned Actors Studio. He worked his way into becoming an artist whom The New York Times crowned as “one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history.” He debuted in 1945 with the drama A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. During his prolific directing career he won two Academy Awards, for the dramas Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) and On the Waterfront (1954). Other postwar films have gone down in filmmaking history: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), the psychological drama Baby Doll (1956), the poetic Splendor in the Grass (1961), and the autobiographical America, America (1963). In 1999 he received an Oscar for his life’s work.

46. IFF Karlovy Vary