Kalman Szegvary

Kalman Szegvary was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and has had his passion for filmmaking since eight years old when his father gave him a super-8 camera to shoot family movies in Budapest. Kalman began shooting short stories with his sisters and little brother when he was eleven years old at which point he began to edit and cut the stories together. In high school he continued to shoot super-8 sound films and would hold screenings of his films during lunch breaks the library. One of his larger films, a forty minute action-film entitled, 'Silver Deep' was used as a portfolio piece for his application to York University. During his film school years, he directed a film entitled 'E-Plus" that was well received at various student film festivals, and worked with Andrew Currie on the short, "The Strange Story of Jacque Leplante", that won the Famous Players,Best Student Film Award of Canada. Kalman graduated in 1990 from York University in Toronto and presently holds a specialized honors degree in film & video production. He then began to work on a variety of professional film projects. He began his professional career as an assistant director at Mafilm Studios in Budapest, Hungary, where he was working on a West-German Television Series. Upon his return he produced and/or directed a few television commercials and production managed several music videos including, "Sooner or Later", a music video for 'The Spoons', for Anthem Records. He then went on to direct the 'Shane Minor: Mr.U.S.A.' workout video, while in the US, then went to the US to assist on low-budget creature features shot in New York in the mid-nineties. Upon his return, Kalman felt the strong desire to create his first feature, so with very limited funds he produced and directed "Cannibal Rollerbabes". Upon completion of the edit distributors claimed that it do not contain enough nudity and so he found it tough to get the distribution contract. The film has since become a small hit in the cult film circles, as shock jock Howard Stern discussed it one morning on air, and then had the star Lisa Heughan, on his TV show. Having some success with his work, he then went on to produce the feature thriller, 'Solid Cover', starring Canadian model sensation Danielle House. He has also produced a TV show entitled, "Wheel Love TV" as he has a personal passion for restoring vintage cars and has a small collection and became involved as associate producer assisting a project by director Maninder Chana entitled, "The Drive-by Ventriloquist". This fall, Kalman is directing a low-budget horror,"Abattoir" written by American James McClung. Kalman continues to pursue his passion for filmmaking and claims that filmmaking happens to be his, 'bad habit'.